


My Next Life as a… Henshin Heroine? The Villainess is a Kamen Rider?!

by JustSomeNPC



Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… - 山口悟 | My Next Life as a Villainess - Yamaguchi Satoru (Light Novels), 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… | My Next Life as a Villainess (Anime)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comedy, Crossover, Drama, F/F, F/M, Female Kamen Riders, Minor Character Death, Multi, No HameFura Knowledge Needed, No Kamen Rider Knowledge Needed, No Previous Knowledge Needed, Original Kamen Rider, Romance, Secret Identity, super hero
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 21,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28005684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustSomeNPC/pseuds/JustSomeNPC
Summary: Katarina Claes had spent seven years preparing for her doom ending since she recovered her past life memories and realised she had been reincarnated in the world of an otome game.But when a mysterious monster attacks her school, Katarina will meet a destiny she wasn't expecting at all.Now she must fight against monsters who feed on fear as a champion of the gods, as a super heroine... as a Kamen Rider!NOTE: this crossover fanfic is pretty much self contained and doesn't require previous knowledge of either of the franchises involved to enjoy it.
Relationships: Katarina Claes/Geordo Stuart, Keith Claes/Sophia Ascart/Maria Campbell, Mary Hunt/Alan Stuart, Nicol Ascart/OC
Comments: 13
Kudos: 31





	1. Flags or Slabs? A god has chosen me!

Katarina Claes. That was my name, the name I acquired when I happened to be reborn in this world. I was seventeen years old when I died in my previous life; I was an otaku high-school girl living in Japan, and one day my life was cut short due to being hit by a truck. Then, in my new life, I was a nasty, fickle, selfish and spoiled noble kid, until I hit my head at the age of eight. Suddenly, my old life’s memories flowed into my mind, all at once. I remembered who I used to be, I remembered how I used to be… these memories changed me, changed the person who Katarina Claes was. Seventeen years of memories being a cheerful, friendly, happy, carefree and selfless girl altered my personality; and I’m so happy it was that way.

But then, I remembered something else: I remembered the otome game I was playing the night before my death, Fortune Lover; and I, somehow, had being reincarnated in the game’s world, or a world that resembled the one portrayed in the game! Worst of all, I, Katarina Claes, was the villainess in the game, the cruel villainess who torments the heroine until she meets her catastrophic ending: either being exiled or murdered! I couldn’t just accept that fate, so I started devising plans to avoid all the Doom Flags and obtain a happy ending for myself.

Thanks to all these plans and plots, I met many individuals who have become dear to me. They are now my precious friends and family; even if they may cause me to meet my doom, at this point I cannot picture my life without them. I really hope I'll be able to stay with them in the end.

And so, I had starting studying in the Academy of Magic at the age of 15, where I met Maria Campbell, the precious, irresistibly charming and sweet heroine of Fortune Lover. Unlike in the game, Maria and I had gotten really close, in fact, she was one of my most beloved friends, despite the danger she represented to my life. But when she smiled at me like a million shining stars, or when she brought me her delicious and peerless homemade sweets, I forgot about my catastrophic ends. Certainly, Maria’s charm was unparalleled, no wonder Jeord and Keith had already fallen for her.

Without even realizing it, half of the first scholar year had already passed, finding myself in the middle of autumn. My advances in finding who the one in Maria’s heart was had yielded no results. Every time I asked her she simply answered “I really like you, Lady Katarina” and nothing more. I still cannot believe that a villainess like me had become such good friends with the heroine, but sometimes I hoped she told me something else besides our friendship. Could it be that she felt I’d be hurt if she told me she had fallen for my fiancée or brother? Maybe she thought that, even if that were other boy, I’d feel abandoned by her? Certainly, Maria was such an angel!

However, a certain line of events that I had never prepared for were about to explode in my life, events that would change everything, forever.

That fated day, I was walking to the cafeteria, hoping to share my lunch time with my friends. I couldn’t wait to try the new cucumber sauce, peppers and cold sausage sandwich, sided with a nice spiced tea and some delicious sweets. Just thinking of it made me drool when, suddenly, a known voice brought me back to reality.  
“Sis! You are here!”  
“Oh, Keith! How are you?” My dear younger brother was running in my direction. In the game he was a frivolous playboy who had knew no love in his live, but my Keith was a real gentleman and someone with a loving family and dear friends. “Have you decided to join me in the caf…”  
“There’s no time for it! Anne, something strange is happening to her! I’ve taken her to the infirmary!”

“Anne?!” Anne Shelly, my personal maid and elder sister figure. She had been assigned to my service since I was a little kid; but to me, Anne was no simple maid, she was family. “What happened, is she sick? Maybe… did she fall and broke an arm?!”

“No, nothing like that, it’s… strange. She started yelling that everything was burning, that there was fire everywhere, she claimed to see us burning too! She ended up having a nervous breakdown; even with her eyes covered she still felt fire on her body; Miss Sophia helped me with a sleeping spell and we took her to the doctor. She’s now in the infirmary, Miss Sophia is with her.”

“Oh no! That sounds terrible! Keith, let’s go to see her; I don’t know what have caused it, but I hope it’s nothing seri…”

I didn’t finish that phrase because a shrieking, inhuman sound stormed into the whole place. It was like a high-pitched hiss, mixed with a beastly roar and the noise of exploding rocks. But before I could process its nature, a more familiar sound reached my ears: screams, lots of human panicked screams. It didn’t take long until various students appeared running from one of the nearby doors, door which, in a few seconds, would violently burst.

And there appeared the origin of that mysterious sound: a creature as big as a horse, with the appearance of a wicker construct in the shape of a maggot, moving on five skeletal legs finishing on vaguely humanoid hands with an irregular number of fingers each; in place of a head, it had just a massive mouth, made of two upper nearly horizontal pincer-like jaws and other three more on the lower place, aimed upwards. But without a doubt, the most frightening trait of said creature is that it was constantly in flames, both on the outside and the inside, flames that didn’t consume its body but kept burning with it.

“What… what is that? That was not in the game!”

★★★★★★★★★

It had been a whole hour since My Lady had gone to classes, not thanks to her own ability to wake up in the morning: as usual, I had to alert her of the hour on the clock when she was still in a deep slumber.

“Uuuuh… goodm’ning Anne…” said her with total calm. Her otherwise perfectly straight groomed chocolate hair was, instead, a tangled mess, an unkempt fuzz. Looks like I had extra work to do.  
“My Lady, I fear this is not the time to greet me so casually, when you are already short of time for your classes.”  
“Whaaaaaaat?! Oh no, oh no, oh bad…! I need to eat breakfast quickly and run to class!”

“My Lady, I must object at that: your hair needs to be properly tidied and brushed; you are a Duke’s daughter, you cannot go around with that scruffy mane. Also, don’t worry about breakfast, I already expected this, so I prepared a breakfast you can easily enjoy while I brush your hair. Just please, don’t tell your mother that I allowed you to eat with your hands.”

“Oh, Anne, I don’t know what would I do without you! You are always there for me, you’re so thoughtful and resourceful… I really feel bad for making you work extra hard due to my clumsiness.” Her face, her smile, so warm and full of care… Even though I was her maid, I couldn’t help but see her as my dear little sister. After all, she was the first person who really treated me as a human being, the one who saw me as Anne Shelly, not as Anne the maid.

“Please, My Lady, do not ever say that about yourself! I’m not working _extra hard_ at all, this is nothing but a different schedule, nothing I can’t adapt to.” That wasn’t entirely the truth: I really had to make a little more effort than usual when attending Lady Katarina. But I’d rather have a harder job with a better reward than an easy job with next to no reward. And her affection, her treating me as a person, was the best reward I could ever ask for.  
  


I was born as the illegitimate daughter of a Baron and one of her maids. My father never treated me as family, and I always lived with my mother in the servant’s quarters. My life was simple: do what the Baron says, never make him angry, try to earn his favor. And despite his cold demeanor towards me, he was never cruel or strict towards me; I felt like he may tolerate my presence… until the day our resting place caught on fire. My mother lost her life that day and my back became horribly scarred by the flames. At that point, my father tossed me out, like a broken toy: with my scars no one would want to marry me and he couldn’t use me as a political tool. That’s why the Baron never was cruel to me: to him I wasn’t a person, just an object, one he didn’t need anymore.

With no place to go, I ended up working for the Claes family as a maid. And there I knew Lady Katarina. A spoiled child at first, she changed after hitting her head during a stroll with Prince Jeord, becoming such a sweet and loving person… and at the same time, kind of an airhead, sometimes like she had become someone completely different. She no longer cared for etiquette or behaved like a proper lady.

But she treated me with care, she acknowledge as a person: she gave me my first birthday present. Each year she’d gave another one, and I’d treasure them. For the first time in my life, I could be myself, I could have my own will. I was happy this way, I wanted to stay next to Lady Katarina forever.

But years later, my father contacted me again: he had found a suitor willing to marry me, a despicable and depraved Viscount who surely had paid the Baron an important sum of money. When I refused to answer his call, he personated in the Claes manor to take me away. And that was the moment when I thought all my years of happiness were coming to an end… until Lady Katarina stood against my father, begging him to let me stay at her side. News of what had transpired that day reached Duke Claes, who, after taking into account who the Baron was trying to engage me to, cut every relationship with my father’s family. I was deeply thankful to the Duke and, specially, to Lady Katarina. When she asked me to accompany her to the Magic Academy as her personal servant I accepted on the spot.

And there I was, in Lady Katarina’s bedroom. After preparing it, I went to the Academy’s mail storage department, where letters addressed to its many students were assorted and prepared to be picked up by their respective servants. This time, both Lady Katarina and Lord Keith had received several of them: besides their parents, Lady Katarina had letters coming from Tom the gardener, who had become his _partner in crime_ with her not-suitable-for-a-lady hobbies of farming and fabricating toy snakes, and another one from someone named Cassandra Campbell. “Campbell… isn’t that the family name of Miss Maria Campbell? I remember My Lady mentioning she visited them. Without a doubt, she left an impression on her.”

Lord Keith, on the other hand, had a lot of letters from female admirers; all of them, I was sure of it, had no chance with him. “Oh, look at this, can you believe it? These three are coworkers of mine in the Claes manor: these two are maids too, and this one is a kitchen assistant. Haven’t they realized there’s only one person in the young Lord’s heart?”

Thinking of this unexpected surprise, I didn’t realize a woman was walking in my direction and we hit each other on the shoulder. A dry sound of something solid hitting the floor could be heard.

“Oh my!” said the woman. She didn’t look like a teacher, she was probably a servant too, although she reminded me more of a butler than a maid, with her black dress and elegant shirt, with no apron or bonnet visible.

“Oh, young miss, I’m sorry to ask this from you, but I’m suffering from a hip ache and I can’t easily lean. Could you, please, pick up that item from me?”

I moved my gaze to what she was pointing: it was a strange looking oval shape of greenish metallic color, with multiple swirls covering it and projecting to its sides. It looked like an egg with vine-like wings.

“Oh, it won’t be an issue for me, let me help you with it.” I took the strange item on my hands and gave it to the woman. Just as her hands received it, I felt a light stabbing pain on my right thumb.

“Ouch! It felt like something stung me.” Looking at my finger, I couldn’t see any wound at all, so I decided not giving it any more importance.

“Oh, thank you miss, you are so nice! This world needs more people like you.”

“It was nothing, after all, it was my fault for being distracted. Although, I must admit, I’m kind of curious about that item. May I ask you what is it?”

“Oh, it’s just a memento from my kid.”

“Oh no… I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked; I didn’t want to open old wounds.”

“Dohohoho, don’t worry about that, miss; my kid is not dead at all. In fact, is starting to live…”

And with that intriguing sentence, the woman walked away from me.

Lord Keith’s room was spotless. I have to admit, cleaning and tidying his room was much easier than his sister’s, certainly he was the perfect gentleman… well, except for her obsession with someone who would probably never reciprocate those feelings. I really hope he’ll finally move on some day and find someone who would complement him the way he deserved.

I had been asked by the young Lord to leave any correspondence addressed to him on top of his desk. I was doing just that when, I soon realized something strange. The desk felt warm, maybe too warm. No wait, more than warm it was really hot, like a sheet of iron exposed under the summer sun for hours. But, that didn’t make any sense, there’s no way a desk or a letter would be so hot… wait, the letter too? In fact, the whole room felt too hot, and too illuminated… no, that wasn’t sunlight, it was… all these flashing lights, all this heat, that crackling sound… the whole room was on fire! And even my clothing was being devoured by creeping blazes!

★★★★★★★★★

My name is Keith Claes. I had been an outcast in my own family during my childhood: I was the illegitimate child of a womanizer Viscount and a prostitute. I was never loved from either of them, and my half-family from my father’s side, predictably, hated me. _Trash_ , _bastard_ , _son of a whore_ … I got used to hear such poisonous utterances every day; being mistreated had become a routine. Until the day I tried to protect a bird from my half-siblings and invoked my dormant magical power: my earth magic crushed them, sending them to the infirmary. From that day, they stopped bullying me, instead, they cowered in fear beyond me and called me a monster… I was sure I’d never feel what is to be loved.

Everything changed when I was adopted in the Claes family. Since I was, what you could call, a _magical prodigy_ , the duke Luigi Claes wanted me to be the heir of the Claes family. At first, I was unsure of this but, once there, I met her: Katarina Claes, only daughter of the house. She was going to be my elder sister, and what a sister she was: from the very beginning she only showed me pure, unconditional love. She claimed to have always wanted a little brother and she treated my like that; at first, I was unsure of how to react to the first sign of affection in my entire life, but soon, a new world was opened before me, a world where I was finally wanted, where I had a place to call _home_ , and people who call _my family_. Even if at first duchess Millidiana Claes was reluctant to my presence in the house (since she believed I was the illegitimate son of her husband) thanks to Katarina that unfortunate misunderstanding was resolved; she and the duke loved me like a true son. For the first time in my life I was happy.

But there was a huge handicap in our relationship: I didn’t love Katarina as a sister but as a woman. Sadly, I knew my love for her was one-sided: she was extremely dense, incapable of realizing what my feelings for her were; to her, I was just her “adorable little brother”. I wanted, I desired, I wished she’d see me as a man. I was aware that I had a good amount of female admirers… but (besides being extremely shy when talking with women) my step-sister was the one who occupied my heart. Worst of all, I was not the only one who longed for her affection, since her natural charm and allure had already bewitched several men and women. Ironically, despite being rivals for her love, we had ended up being good friends with each other. Could it be that Katarina’s aura had made such a miracle?

I had already finished attending my class of Applied Magical Theory and I was walking back to my room to take a quick bath and reunite with my sister and friends in the cafeteria.

But when I was in the corridor where my room was located, a loud scream was heard coming from it. I recognized that voice, our loyal and caring maid. “Anne? Anne?!”

Anne came out, bursting outside my room, completely terrified, running out of control. I quickly went to her side and, grabbing her shoulders, tried to calm her.

“Anne, Anne, calm down, please! What happened, what have you seen in my dorm?!”

“Fire! The room is on fire, the hallway is on fire, you are on fire, I’m on fire! I don’t want this, I don’t wanna die like my mother! It’s everywhere!”

I blinked several times trying to understand the situation. “Anne, what are you talking about? There’s no fire, even more, we are certainly not burning. Look at my room, see? Nothing out of the ordinary.” But she kept screaming and struggling in my arms.

“Noooooooo! I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna burn! Help me, help meeeeee!”

I was starting to panic myself: people would think something wrong about this situation, and she was extremely nervous, I feared for her health.

“Lord Keith! What is happening, why is Anne acting so strange?”

A familiar voice spoke to me at my left side; without loosening my grip on Anne’s shoulders, I turned my face to see her: her small complexion, abundant flowing snow-like white hair and shiny ruby eyes were unmistakable: Sophia Ascart, daughter of the Prime Minister, a dear friend and also a fierce albeit discreet rival.

“Miss Sophia! Oh, I can’t answer for sure, she seems to be delirious: thinks everything and everyone is burning, including her! I need to calm her down, but I have no idea of what to do! She’s going to have a stroke at this rate!”

Sophia came to my help, trying to hold her, speaking directly to her face: “Miss Anne, look at me! There’s no fire, you are not burning, you are safe, try closing your eyes!” She covered Anne’s eyes, but the result didn’t change by much.

“AGH! I FEEL IT! MY SKIN, IT BURNS!”

“It’s no use Miss Sophia, her hallucinations are affecting her other senses! We need to bring her to a medic now!”

“Let me try something else.” Sophia’s body began to glow with a greenish light, her hair started waving as a windy aura enveloped her; she finally placed her hand over Anne’s face and a soft breezy sound reached my ears. In a moment, Anne fell deadweight on my arms, her breathing much more relaxed.

“There. It’s a sleeping spell, it will keep her more calmed. Although, she seems to still have nightmares about her delusions.”

That was true: even if Anne was asleep I still could hear her whispering “fire” and having temporary spasm. Not wanting to have this situation lasting for any longer, we rushed to the infirmary.

★★★★★★★★★

“You are very beautiful”. I still remember the day when I heard her words: it was the first time that I felt truly happy. My brother used to tell me that somewhere there was a person willing to be my friend, that someday I’ll meet someone who would understand me. Although I loved my brother, I couldn’t really believe in his words: I had always been called _ugly_ , _disgusting_ , _cursed_ … all because my white hair and red eyes. People who met me saw me either as a repulsive pest or a burden to my family. I was sure I’d be alone forever… until she appeared in my life.

Katarina Claes, a noble girl like no other, never bothered about etiquette or appearances, she was a free spirit, an unshackled soul bent on being her true self. We met in a tea party at he Royal Castle, where she scared some kids who were chastising me for “showing my shameful cursed face”, as was the norm when interacting with me. Later, when Lady Katarina and me met again, she quoted a line from _Princess Emerald and Sophia_ ; that was the moment when we realized we shared a common passion: reading romance novels. She eagerly invited me to visit her at her estate.

Days later my older brother, Nicol, accompanied me in my first time visiting another person’s home as guest. And what a visit that was! Lady Katarina never looked at me with disgust or rejection, she actually enjoyed my company, she delighted in talking with me about romance novels… and when the time to return home came later that day she asked me something I wasn’t expecting at all: as Princess Emerald said to Sophia, she request to touch my hair. “Don’t you think my appearance is disgusting?” was my question. To my surprise, she compared my hair to silk, my eyes to rubies, and told me “You are very beautiful”. That was the first time someone had said such nice words to me. Lady Katarina changed my life that day.

As years passed, my affection for my dear friend did nothing but grow. I really wanted her to be my brother’s spouse in a future, despite the fact that she was engaged to his best friend, and a prince none the less. I always encouraged my dear brother to make his move, to conquer her heart. But I’d be lying if part of me didn’t desire her as something more that a friend. Maybe, if she married my brother I’d be able to spend more time with her, maybe she’d reciprocate my feelings some day… but until then, whatever happened in the future, I was happy to be able to spend time with her and a whole group of rivals for her love but, at the same time, dear friends.

One of those friends was Keith Claes, her adoptive brother, a young gentleman with a prodigious talent for magic. I must admit, Lord Keith was an extremely attractive man, with his waving flaxen hair and deep blue eyes; but his obsession with Lady Katarina was next to hilarious. Nonetheless, he was a very dependable individual, specially at sabotaging Prince Jeord’s plans of being alone with his fiancé. But that day, I’d met Lord Keith in a completely unexpected situation.

I was walking back from classes when I could hear a woman screaming from the top of her lungs; “Fiiiire! I’m burning! I don’t want to die!” Alarmed, I run in the direction of said voice until I found two known faces: Lord Keith was there, holding one his hands none other than Anne, personal maid of the Claes siblings. The woman was struggling with all of her strength, her face distorted with panic. According to the heir of the Claes dukedom, she was suffering from hallucinations related to fire. After I cast a sleeping spell on her, we rushed to the infirmary with the poor maid.

“So, what do you suggest doctor?” asked Lord Keith to doctor Eloise Bleuglace.

“For the time being, I can only suggest keeping her here, maintaining her sedated with herbal mixtures and in the meantime, we’ll try to find the origin of her delusions. They may come from some kind of hallucinogenic drug, or maybe a curse.”

“But doctor,” I inquired “is strapping her to the bed that necessary?” Anne was firmly tied with three thick leather straps. She sometimes made spastic struggling moves.

“Sorry Lady Ascart, but you’ve seen how she acted. If we leave her unattended, she may fall off from the bed. This is for the best.”

“Uhm, Miss Sophia?” asked me the younger brother of my most beloved friend. “I’m thinking of informing my sister about this incident. She holds Anne dearly and will surely be hurt by her condition. Could you please stay here with her until we are back? I know I’m asking a lot, but your spell from before proved to be very effective on calming Anne.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it Lord Keith, it’s not a big issue for me. Rest assured I’ll be here until you two are back.” And with that, I let him go to get Lady Katarina here. Sure, I was not exactly thrilled with the idea of him spending some time alone with her, but considering the situation I doubted he’d try anything not related to this happening. Besides, Lady Katarina would be really happy of knowing I’ve been keeping an eye on the one she loves as an older sister.

It had been around five minutes since Lord Keith left when Anne’s spasms became more violent than before. A suffocated, gulping sound left her lips on an irregular pattern.

“Oh my! I think she’s going to vomit! Let’s move her head so she doesn’t suffocate with her own puke!” said doctor Bleuglace. Holding Anne’s head to a side, she kept her in that position, until something was spewed from the maid’s mouth: an orange looking long body.

“What… what is that? A carrot?”

“I doubt it, Lady Ascart. It looks like… a long egg? No, wait, it’s pulsating. Could it be some kind of parasite? A cocoon, maybe? Well, no matter the case, I can’t let this thing here. Let me grab it.”

But before the doctor could hold that thing with a pair of pincers, several cracks formed on its surface. And from those cracks, violently, continuous streams were expelled, streams of…

“Fiiiiireeeee!”

★★★★★★★★★

“What in the name of fates is that thing?!” My younger brother was as dumbfounded as myself when we beheld that malformed abomination. I didn’t finish all Fortune Lover routes, so there were parts of the game that remained a mystery to me, but I was pretty sure that none of them included a fiery skeletal worm!

“Keith, run, we have to avoid it and reach the infirmary! I fear for Anne, we need to take her out of here!” We started running in the opposite direction, but I was looking for some kind of exit that allowed me to take a shortcut there.

“But Sis, that’s too dangerous! We can’t even tell if Anne is okay right now, we may be risking ourselves…”  
“That’s the biggest reason we have to reach her! If she’s injured she needs our help! I’m not leaving this building without her!” I could understand Keith was worried about me, but the idea of leaving Anne behind was hurtful; no way I’d betray her after being by my side all these years. “Keith! Use your magic here, destroy this window, we are crossing through here!”

My brother doubted at first but, shortly, decided to go with my plan: summoning his earth magic, he created a wave of ground and stone that break through the corridor’s floor and shattered the window. The best part is that it had become an improvised bridge to cross over, allowing us to avoid the sharp glass shards that still remained on the broken window’s frame. “Great job Keith! So, the infirmary was in that direction, right? I think I need you to do your window breaking trick again.” I gave him my best smile.

“ _Sigh_ … I hope the school staff doesn’t charge me for this.”

When we reached the infirmary, a massive feeling of dread overcame me: it was completely devastated, with its furniture burned, its walls blackened and its main door busted, resting in shards on the floor. There were no signs of people nearby.

“Nononono… Anne! Sophia!” I rushed to the inside, only to find it completely deserted. “Are you here?! Answer me please!” I started moving and shuffling every single half-charred object I met, in hopes I’d find them safe behind those... but no one was inside the room. “No… please, no…” I could feel tears forming in my eyes, the idea of losing them gripping onto my heart.

“Sis, calm down. Think logically: if the worse had happened, their remains would be here. That means they managed to escape.”

“You are right! Oh Keith, you are right! They must be nearby, let’s search for them!”

With renewed hopes, Keith and I started searching all nearby rooms that weren’t damaged. Apparently, all fires here were extinguished before we arrived. It’s a good thing there were a good number of water mages in this school.

After about five or more eternal minutes of me and Keith searching and yelling, one door opened and a very familiar face of pearly skin, silky hair and ruby eyes met my gaze. “Sophia! You are okay!” I hugged her with joy and could feel how she was trembling and had difficulties standing on her feet. “Oh? What’s wrong Sophia? Please, tell me you are not hurt!”

“Oh, no, don’t worry about… that, Lady Katarina. I’m just… tired. We’ve been hiding here since… we don’t have strength enough… to run.” She was constantly gasping for air, visibly exhausted.

“Oh, that’s right! Sophia, where’s Anne? Is she safe?”

“Fear not, she’s… just weak, like me and doctor Bleuglace.”

“Miss Sophia! Oh, I’m glad you are not hurt.” My brother finally spoke, as we were entering the nearly empty classroom where they were hiding. “What happened here? Did that monster attack you too?”

“In fact, that creature was ‘born’ in the infirmary. Luckly, doctor Bleuglace… is a water user. She, with help with my wind magic managed to kept that spawn at bay, at least when it was small. As soon… as it escaped the infirmary it started burning other classrooms and after a few minutes, while students were seized by… panic, it started growing in size. People escaped here, but we had to hide. The doctor and I were too weak to run… after spending so much mana, even less, to carry Anne with us.”

Poor Anne, I was hugging her, both of us crying. Thinking that I could have lost her filled me with terror; I couldn’t even imagine how my life would be if she had… met the end of her life that day.”

“But, wait, there’s something I don’t get it: where did that monster come from? What do you mean it was ‘born’ in the infirmary?”

“Well, Lord Keith,” spoke Anne without leaving our mutual embrace. “… as… ridiculous as it may sound, that… thing came out from me.”

★★★★★★★★★

“Eeeeeh?!” My sister and I were astonished by our trusted maid’s news. “Out of you? How is that even possible? Also, now that I realize it, have your hallucinations stopped?”

“Fortunately, yes. I suspect that monster was… the reason behind them. I was unconscious… when it happened but, according to… Lady Sophia and the doctor I vomited a… cocoon. That thing was born from it.”

“A… a cocoon? Oh no, oh no! Then it’s a parasite! Probably you ate some of its species’ eggs among my vegetables! I’m sorry Anne, it’s my fault, I should have cleaned them more, I should have worked harder to keep plagues at bay!” My sister started crying after apologizing for… something that was impossible to be her fault.

“My Lady, please, don’t say such nonsense! Have you… ever heard of a parasite that creates flames and grows to beast-size in minutes?”

“ _sniff_ Maybe? I mean, there’s magic in this world, such thing is not impossible, don’t you think?”

“Honestly, sis, sometimes I wonder how your mind works, because it comes up with the most ludicrous ideas. Having magic does not equate the presence of impossible creatures in every corner. Whatever that thing is, it’s obviously unnatural. But I still wonder, why does it was inside Anne?”

“Honestly, Lord Claes, I think that’s not… the main issue right now.” Thus spoke doctor Eloise Bleuglace. “We need to escape from here… even if it’s calm now, who knows… when that monster will attack again. And there are… not enough security corps in the Academy to… properly restrain or eliminate it.” I agreed with nodding my head, her words made too much sense. She was considered an oddity amongst other doctors in the region, since she was actually of noble bloodline, second daughter of a viscount, yet she purchased a career in medicine instead of the usual plan for high society women of finding a good husband.

“So, summarizing our situation: both you and Miss Sophia are exhausted as a result of over-using your magic; and Anne is still weak after vomiting a flaming abomination. My sister and I are two, and if I create a mud doll that’d make it three pair of arms for three people. I suggest that…”

“I think your mud doll should carry Eloise, you carry Sophia and I’ll take Anne out of here.” My sister interrupted me, elaborating her own plan.

“M… me, carrying Sophia?! I… I think that wouldn’t be necessary, besides, I’m sure Sophia would be happy going with you; after all, you are close friends, aren’t you?” I directed my eyes to Sophia, hoping she’d collaborate. I was thinking of carrying Anne myself, since my familiarity with her didn’t trigger my shyness towards women. However, to my surprise and disappointment, Sophia agreed with Katarina.

“I won’t lie, I’d really want to be carried by Lady Katarina, but… she’s stronger than you and I’m smaller than Anne, so it does make sense.”

“Thank you Sophia! I knew you’d understand my logic. Come here Anne, we are going out.” And with these words, she carried our beloved maid on her back and went out the room fast and graceful as a bunny.

“Well… I guess we should get moving too.” I created one of my mud dolls, big enough to carry doctor Bleuglace on its arms, then, hesitant, I spoke to Sophia. “Well… Sophia you, you hold onto me too…”

“Uhm, Lord Keith, you see, my arms are specially numb. I channeled too… much magic through them. I don’t think I’ll be able to firmly hold onto you…”

“Uh… you have to try Sophia, I’m sure you still have…”

“With all respect, Lord Claes,” interrupted the doctor, “Lady Ascart did really overworked before with her magic. Besides, with her dress it’d be quite complicated carrying her on your back. You must hold her on your arms.”

That’s what I wanted to avoid… princess carrying a woman?! I was sure I’d die of a heart stroke before reaching the exit. “O… okay. Here, Miss Sophia… you can lay on… my arms.” I couldn’t even open my eyes but I could felt how Sophia let herself onto my arms. Terribly nervous, I stood up, concentrated on my mud doll and started walking towards an exit, with it following me. During that stroll I tried to look forward, too timid to even meet Sophia’s eyes. But I couldn’t ignore how her long hair was resting on my hands. It was… incredibly soft, like a cloud made of virgin silk…

★★★★★★★★★

As the Third Prince of Sorcier, everyone had high expectations from me since the day I was born. “ _A genius_ ”, that’s how they called me. Not that I liked to brag about it, but I had to admit I was kind of a multi-talented individual: studies, etiquette, swordsmanship, sports… nothing was a challenge to me, being able to excel at everything with little to no effort. Even my social skills were outstanding, allowing me to read people’s emotions like an open book with a magnifying glass. Not to mention, I had been gifted with a powerful affinity to fire magic, the second rarest element, just behind light.

Yet, all these talents, all this… ‘ _perfection_ ’… nothing could fill my soul. I felt empty, apathetic, disinterested for the world around me and its people. Everything felt dull, plain, grey… worst of all, my relationship with my twin brother was as cold as the harshest winter ever: he nearly died as a result of a serious illness when he was five, and our mother became overly protective of him; but at the same time, he developed a strong inferiority complex towards me. I never tried to boast before him, but hearsays and gossips from meddling nobles poisoned his mind.  
“ _Poor Prince Alan, he became the lesser of the twins_.”  
“ _Prince Alan is lucky to be alive. After all, his brother stole all talent from him_.”

During all these years, Alan never saw me as his brother, but as a hurdle, as a trial he had to beat no matter what. He became extremely competitive and bitter, always trying to surpass me, with no success. This didn’t do but fill my life with more tedium and sadness…

Until the day she entered in my life. My beloved fiancé, the person I loved more than anything in this world, the light that filled my existence with color and brightness: Katarina Claes. At first, I only proposed to her because I felt responsible for a small scar she received on her as a result of falling flat on a stone decoration when we were talking a walk. But the more I got to know her, the more I realized I was in love with her.

She was so different to any other noble girl, not caring at all about etiquette or social manners. In fact, her hobbies were anything but elegant: for example, she adored climbing trees, and she was specially good at it, proudly calling herself ‘a monkey’; she also had developed an out of place passion for farming, of all things. In fact, when I first laid eyes on her working on her fields, dressed on those humble garments more fit for a gardener, her delicate visage covered in dirt, her cascading hair hidden behind a simple shawl, and those feminine hands holding a hoe… it struck me; I was certain that she was the girl who I wanted to share the rest of my days with.

Katarina never cared about social status at all, and that’s what made her so charming: she’d never look down on anyone, even more, her heart was always open to whoever would need someone to rely on. It was no secret how she was known in the Academy: the Saintess Katarina Claes. But her pure and loving heart was a powerful charm, capable of stealing affection in a way one could only imagine from those romance novels she loved so much. I am her fiancé, yet I have to bear with a notable group of rivals for her love: one of those is none other than her adoptive brother Keith, who is so clingy of her I sometimes feel he’ll awaken one day transformed into her shadow.

There was also my own brother, Alan, who at the moment seemed ignorant of his true feelings, but enjoyed her company a lot. Years ago, he proclaimed Katarina as his rival, believing she was trying to seduce his fiancé. After being defeated by her on climbing trees (seriously brother, did your really believe you could have won?), Katarina helped him on discovering his talent for music, which, I must admit, surpasses mine. Even if he was a potential rival, our relationship became that of real brothers since then, all thanks to my beloved Katarina.

Oh, speaking of my brother and his fiancé: said woman, Mary Hunt, is also infatuated with Katarina, to a point that borders obsession. She openly admits on planning to escape with her to other country, taunts me continuously with their “friend touching” and is always ready to initiate another attempt on conquering Katarina.

And then, there are also the Ascart siblings, kids of the Prime Minister: Nicol and Sophia. Nicol, my best friend, has been in love with my fiancé since she became a close friend of his sister Sophia and congratulated him for having a loving family. While I knew he’d be loyal to our friendship, his outlandish smile was a powerful weapon capable of melting the hearts of those who witness it. Worse of all, his sister was always encouraging him on doing his move on Katarina.

Speaking of her, Sophia Ascart is another unintended conquest of Katarina’s charm. Ostracized since her childhood because of her white hair and red eyes, Katarina was the first who saw her as a person and not a ‘cursed child’; even I, as ashamed as I feel of it, found her semblance somewhat eerie. With years, she grew as a close friend of Katarina, but I could read her: she sees her as more than a friend; her plans of having Katarina engaged to her brother will include her as the young duchess’ mistress.

And finally, there’s Maria Campbell. Unlike all the others, she’s a commoner, born with the rare gift of light magic. Since her arrival at the Academy, she became the main target of bullying from cruel nobles; and there was Katarina to defend and befriend her. As sweet and delicate Maria may seem, she was probably my most fearsome rival: her charms were out of this world, like if the universe itself wanted her as the most irresistible girl to ever exist. Worst of all, she had an amazing talent for bakery, which was her most trusted weapon in obtaining Katarina’s affection, through her voracious appetite.

And despite being so surrounded of love… our dear Katarina remained oblivious to it: she just saw us as friends. ‘ _I’m willing to break our engagement the moment you find someone you truly love_ ’ she used to tell me; I had repeated to her in multiple ways that I’d never break our engagement: she was the one I loved, the one I longed to marry, but she couldn’t see it: she really believed I was just using her as a shield to keep other suitors at bay. My only relief was that this applied to my other friends and rivals.

It was that day of autumn when my life would change to the weirder. As a member of the Student Council I was in our meeting room, preparing and sorting documents when, out of the blue, dozens of terrified screams reached my ears; I could hear them outside of the room, accompanying the bang of a whole mob running fast. _What the… what’s happening out there?_ I rushed to the door and took a look outside, just to being violently dropped to the ground by a student who collided with me. Fortunately, the impact wasn’t severe for us, so I got up while helping the other boy doing the same.

“Are you okay? What is happening here, why is everyone so panicked?” The guy was still dizzy, but when he finally recognized me, he managed to articulate words.

“Ah! Prince Jeord! I’m sorry Your Highness, I never meant to trample you! Please, excuse my bad manners, but understand, we are in a life or death situation, we must escape here!”

“Life or death?! What do you mean, is there some threat in the Academy? Bandits, an assassin, dissident soldiers?”

“Worse, much worse! It’s a flaming skeletal monster!”

I was utterly dumbfounded by words that I couldn’t have expected to hear together. “A… a what?!”

It didn’t take long to hear a terrifying shriek to my far right. When I directed my gaze in that direction, I could contemplate a creature whose description was pretty accurate to the one I just listened to. It was like someone tried to create a giant caterpillar mock-up using bones, with parts that don’t suit the overall body, and set it on fire.

“There it is! We must flee!”

With that said, that student ran for his life; but I didn’t, I stood there, defiant, keeping my eyes against that monstrosity. As a prince, it was my duty to protect my subjects, or at least, to keep that creature occupied enough time to allow them escape. Grabbing my sword, I prepared to face that horror in the name of Sorcier’s crown.

After fighting that abomination for a few rounds, I realized that I had underestimated my opponent, or maybe overestimated my own abilities: I was used to possessing the most offensive oriented element in magic, but never did I think I’d face an enemy with a fire affinity. My flames didn’t seem to inflict any damage in that monster, who easily shook them off, like if I had thrown dirty rags on it. Even my sword wasn’t that much of a help, because that impossible abomination lacked flesh or organs, and its bone-like skeleton was hard as a block of marble. The only positive aspect is that the spells _Calm Flames_ and _Burning Aegis_ worked as a defensive option against its fiery breath.

It was time for a change of strategy: if I couldn’t harm that abomination directly, I was going to use the environment for it; luckily, that inner garden we where fighting in had lots of decorative arcs made of carved stone, and I just had to bait it to move under one of it. When I had it positioned where I wanted it, I concentrated my mana on one of those stony structures and cast a spell of _Localized Burst_ : a small but strong explosion turned that decoration into a rockslide that fell on the monster. I got it temporarily immobilized, just to deal it the finishing blow; while my _Burning Aegis_ shield absorbed rogue flames that were expelled in my direction, I put both hands on the ground, let the mana on my spirit flow into the ground through them and cast at the same time two instances of a powerful attack spell: _Raising Earth Rage_ ; two fast and violent streams of fire where shot from the ground in a jet stream style. This time, I angled them crosswise, aimed at the creature, resulting in large amount of soil and stone impacting violently against it.

I fell on my back, breathing profoundly, exhausted after spending so much magical energy; but at the same time felt satisfaction, knowing I had defeated that monster or, at the very least, severely damaged so any reinforcements that were to arrive could easily finish it… until that unnatural sound could be heard from it and its flames burst once more. That impossible horror shook all the rubble off, and stood on foot before me once again. The only real damage I had done to it was dislocating its jaws and legs, an inconvenience that it was already fixing.

I gathered all the strength that I still had inside me and tried to stand up again. I had failed on defeating that thing, I had to flee… but my legs barely could support my weight. Suddenly, familiar faces flashed through my mind: I remembered my friends, my family, my beloved Katarina, and had the dark hunch that I’d never see them again…

And a fast stream of water that attacked the creature proved how wrong I, fortunately, was. The monster flinched, shocked to feel its flames soaked, and a familiar and welcome voice spoke on my back.

“Jeez, you had to play the hero, right? How could you ever think that facing a fire monster was a good idea?”

With a smirk on my face and joy in my heart, I answered: “I’m glad to see you too, Alan.”

★★★★★★★★★

Alan Stuart, Fourth Prince of the Kingdom of Sorcier. That’s who I am. Known for years as ‘the inferior twin’, ‘the leftovers of Prince Jeord’. And I really believed those hearsays. But, how couldn’t I? I was sickly and weak during my first years of life, to the point that it was thought I wasn’t going to survive. During those years, my mother stayed most of the time by my side. When I defeated my sickness and could start living a normal life, I realized how far I had fallen behind my brother Jeord. Studies, swordsmanship, horsemanship… no matter what we did, I had to work hard to accomplish lesser results than those that my brother obtained with minor effort. I really felt I was his leftovers, and I really wanted to surpass him, to defeat him… without success.

I was the only one of my brothers without a fiancé, but that changed the day I became engaged to the younger daughter of Marquis Hunt: Mary Hunt, a lovable girl with coppery eyes and auburn hair, like burnt sienna. I immediately felt affection for such an adorable lady, like I had gained a younger sister. Mary was sweet and caring, and had a natural talent for gardening; her flower garden was a place I enjoyed visiting, feeling at peace with her. But when I tried to compliment her, something unexpected hit me in the face: I mentioned her that she was gifted with ‘green thumbs’, term used in a book to refer to those skillful in floriculture… only for her to communicate me that I was the second one to have called her that. Who had beaten me in praising my own fiancé? None other than the first daughter of the ducal Claes family: Katarina Claes.

In fact, not just in lauding my own fiancé, but also in occupying her mind: whenever I was with Mary, all she talked about was her dear ‘friend’ Katarina. That had to end: whoever this Katarina Claes was, she was courting a prince’s fiancé.

I arranged a visit to the Claes state, demanding a meeting with Katarina. Not only she arrived late, her manners were not the best. Specially when I demanded her to stop seducing my fiancé: she had the audacity of calling me ‘charm-less’ and ‘boring’! To me, a prince! That was it: I challenged her to a duel.

And I suffered a humiliating defeat… on tree climbing, nonetheless. I let her choose the type of duel we were going to have and she chose something so unfit for a noble lady; worst of all, she was extremely good at it! I couldn’t accept it: I challenged her over and over during multiple weeks, but she kept on beating me, like she was some kind of monkey. That was until the day she accepted a different challenge: musical talent. We’d see which of us was better at playing piano. Even my own brother Jeord was there, witnessing our showdown.

After her passable performance it was my turn. Once I finished playing, I received from Katarina, Jeord and every one else in the room what I thought at that moment to be fake praises out of pity; unable to stand that, I stormed out of the room, with Katarina following me.

To me surprise, she insisted that my performance was magnificent, that I had a real musical talent. Somehow, she was seeing me as me, not as the inferior prince. But I still couldn’t believe it: I was supposed to be the leftovers, the worse twin. The young duchess, however, claimed that everyone has their strengths and weakness and I shouldn’t compare to my brother, because he also had a weakness.

I was speechless. A weakness? Jeord? The perfect prince? To my amazement, she’d show me that claimed weakness, ambushing Jeord during a stroll on the manor’s fields and throwing at his feet… a paper snake. That’s the day I discovered my supposedly perfect brother had a deep fear of snakes. I couldn’t believe it; that face, his skin turning blue-ish… and when he comically chastised his fiancé for throwing a fake reptile at him… for the first time in my life I laughed, I laughed at hard as my body could stand it. Before I knew it, Katarina had shown me a face of my brother and a face of myself that I didn’t even imagine I had.

That was the day were everything changed to better between my twin and myself. I was finally free, free of my inferiority complex, free of my obsessive competition. I could see Jeord as my brother, not as a wall. We finally talked to each others like siblings. And all of that was thanks to an eccentric and friendly girl named Katarina Claes.

It was my first year in the Magic Academy, autumn, when thing took a turn into the stranger. I was practicing in the music hall for my next performance. The capturing and melodious piano tunes submersed the whole instance; a perfect scenario for me, who was letting himself get enthralled in its charm… until the clangor of several rushing feet and screaming mouths became more and more thunderous, to the point I realized something serious may be happening. Swiftly, I rushed to the door with intentions of discerning what was happened, but it opened before I could reach it, with a trio of panicked students staring at me.

“Glad you were here!”

“Oh Prince Alan, I feared you’d have moved elsewhere!”

“The guards are alerted! But he went to face it alone!”

“Hey, hey, calm down all of you!” I had to command them. “What is happening, why where you looking for me?”

“Prince Alan, your brother is…”

The student paused and gave a deep breath, probably trying to shape her thoughts into words.

“Some strange monster is attacking the school and your brother is facing it alone, in the inner yard next to the cafeteria! But that horror is some kind of unnatural fire elemental creature!”

I had to stare blankly at her for several seconds, striving to process her words. When I finally could understand the message’s gravity, I stormed out of the room, heading towards the place she mentioned.  
“ _Jeord, you idiot!_ ”

I could hear explosions in the distance, which grew in intensity as I got closer and closer to my destination. Kicking open a door leading to the inner yard, I found myself contemplating how that flaming impossibility raised among a pile of rubble and, in front of it, a very familiar figure stood on his kneels, apparently helpless before the screaming horror of fire: my brother Jeord.

There was no time for doubting, so I quickly charged into the action, calling for my mana reserves to burn; unlike my brother, I had been born with talent over the magical element of water, which gave me a better advantage over a fire creature than he could have. I cast the spell _Surging Cold_ , releasing a violent stream of near-freezing water from my hands. It impacted on the malformed monster, dousing its flames, generating a huge column of vapor in the process. The abomination, now looking like an unfinished wicker figure with a few embers burning here and there, fell down, apparently disoriented.

“Jeez, you had to play the hero, right? How could you ever think that facing a fire monster was a good idea?” Those were the words I uttered to my brother as I approached him.

“I’m glad to see you too, Alan.”  
“Bet you are.” I commented while I helped him standing up. “It seems my magic has damaged it enough. Probably, with the help of the soon-to-arrive soldiers we could finish off this atrocity.” But it didn’t took long to realize I had spoken too soon: the creature managed to stood up and, in a flash, its flames started burning once again; it opened it horrendous mouth in our direction, showing how its inner fire was swirling fast and violently: it was reading a flaming breath attack!

I couldn’t let that happen; once again, I called for the magic energies surging through my body and executed another spell: _Liquid Bomber_. A solitary globe of incredibly concentrated water was tossed from my hand, meeting the flaming stream pouring out of that monster and fiercely exploding in mid air. Its expansive wave hit us all, with the abomination landing on its ‘back’ (or whatever you could call it), and my trying to soften Jeord’s impact against the ground, acting as his emergency cushion. Fortunately, I still had enough mana to cast the spell _Surface Bounce_ ; a mattress of pressured water appeared under us, holding its form together as we landed on it; it was like falling on a giant piece of gelatin that didn’t broke up under our weight.  
“Jeord, are you hurt?” I asked him while I gather my strength into standing up; I had never used so much mana in such a short time since one of my childish competitions against my brother (in which I, of course, lost).

“In body? No. In pride? Quite much. But I must say it: thank you for your help, Alan.”

I had to admit, I felt a small shard of guilt for that feeling of pride that took shape inside me: I was the one who saved Jeord, the one who helped him from the dangerous situation he had foolishly got into. But there was no time for celebrations, because, with violent convulsions and body motions, our malformed adversary was regaining its balance… and its fire too, for this began to burn once again, in a sporadic but more frequent way each time.

“What the… isn’t there a way to stop that thing?!” I didn’t have enough magic reserves to fight that thing again, but at least my body wasn’t as worn out as Jeord’s.

However, as I tried to make our escape, a loud bang was heard behind us; taking a peek, I saw multiple boulders raining over the monster, at the same time arrows and lances tried to stab its fleshless form. Finally, guards and battlemages had arrived at the scene. I guess having two princes involved in the fight made it a matter of utmost urgency.

“Your Highness! Are you two unharmed?”

Thus spoke one of the newly arrived mages. “Fortunately, yes, we are just exhausted after overusing magic, specially my brother.”

“Oh, I see, what a relief. Quickly! Bring some restorative elixirs for the princes!”

After drinking from those magical mixtures, we both had our strength back. The guards told us to flee, while they tried to contain the monstrous beast, using metallic nets and every spell available. But nothing was capable of putting it down.

“Wait… something is not right… Alan, when I fought this freak, it wasn’t as big. It’s bigger than a carriage now! It’s gradually growing!”

“What?! Are you sure of it Jeord?!”

“Absolutely! Also, look, their magic is less and less capable of extinguishing its flames each time they use it! It’s not just growing in size, but also in power! Where did this nightmare come from?!”

The monster’s fire was so powerful that was even capable of melting the steel nets and spears entangling it.

“Don’t step back! Use everything you have, we have to stop this abomination at any pri-AAAGH!”

The captain’s voice was prematurely silenced, for his body fell down, inert, with his neck completely swallowed and reddish, sprouting blood and a purple fluid from a puncture wound.

“How dare you use such ugly words to refer to my precious child?”

Those who were not occupied fighting the monster, including me and my brother, directed our gazes to the origin of that voice. There, on top of a broken column, was standing a woman… or at least she’d be a woman if she were human, because what we were watching was in no way a human being: her body exhibited multiple shades of greenish gray, covered in some kind of carapace not unlike that of insects; her hair was, actually, a collection of different types of insect antennas; she had dragonfly and spider eyes on her forehead; four spider legs sprouting from her left shoulder blade and a whole gigantic centipede from the right one, and between those features, insect wings; from her left leg, four eyeless and antenna-less ant heads were connected to her skin, clacking their jaws menacingly, and from her right leg, the cause of the captain’s death, a long scorpion tail flailed menacingly.

“What… who… what are you?!”

The horrendous woman ignored Jeord’s question and jumped next to the burning horror with a flashing cat grace. Using her centipede and a blade similar to a hornet sting, she dispatched two of the soldiers that were facing her “child.”

“Oh, my beloved little one, these bad humans where being mean to you. But you are better and stronger than them, I’m so proud of you… but, you know, you are all grown up now. You need to become an adult, and for that, you need to say your nanny goodbye. I’ll keep the bad ones at bay; now go, give her the farewell she deserves and eat her.”

The most frightening part of that conversation was not the way she talked to that thing, but that she had dispatched more soldiers in a casual manner while chatting. Her centipede member had a longer reach that we could have expected, and she also was capable of throwing stings out of her arms. Not to mention, she happened to be a very capable fighter. The situation looked more desperate at any passing moment…

“Prince Jeord, Prince Alan!”

We heard a familiar voice behind us.

“Nicol! What are you doing here?”

Thus spoke my brother to his best friend, Nicol Ascart.

“I met Keith and my sister, they explained me what was transpiring here. They were both escaping from this danger, following the steps of Katarina.”

“Katarina?! Is she all right?!”

“From what I get, yeah, she was helping Anne, who was weak after that monster came out from her body. But they never mentioned anything about an insectoid woman.”

“Wait… Nicol, did you just say that flaming creature was spawned from Anne?!” A sense of concern crept on me when I started having a dreadful realization. At this time, the bug woman started attacking more soldiers, allowing his burning companion to make a getaway and, bursting through a door, disappear from sight.

“Quickly, Jeord, Nicol, we need to catch it!” As I started running in its direction, a force pull off me and sent me to the floor, face up… in order to see the centipede passing at high speed over me.

“Are you all right brother? That was close!”

He… Jeord couldn’t wait even a day to make our savior status even.

“Where do you think you are going? Nobody will stop my kid to reaching adulthood! You should stay and play with me here. I love playing with handsome guys, after all.”

That atrocious woman said those mocking words while licking her dagger. I turned to Nicol and gave him instructions: “Nicol, use your wind magic and sent a message to Katarina! That monster is going to devour Anne!”

★★★★★★★★★

“Faster please!” I urged the carriage’s coachman. Anne’s colors had come back to her face a few minutes ago, but it was too dangerous staying near the Academy.

“I’m sorry miss, the horses cannot run any faster! We are going as fast as we can!”

We were in route to the Claes manor, hopping to give her some rest and inform our parents of the incident. For a moment I was thinking that maybe they wouldn’t believe me, but with Sophia, Keith and Anne supporting my testimony, they’d have to believe me.

In front of us, Keith and Sophia were sitting. They were surprisingly silent, but the situation wasn’t exactly happy at the time. After fleeing the Academy under attack by a monster, we finally got a carriage that wasn’t occupied, since most students had taken most of them. Doctor Bleuglace opted to stay and help any injured individual she could run into.

We were in route to the capital city when, all of a sudden, I could hear a voice… a voice carried by the wind.  
“Katarina, can you hear me? It’s me, Nicol. I’m sending you a message with my magic. Listen closely: another monster has appeared in the Academy, one more humanoid in appearance and capable of speech; she has helped the flaming one to escape and has instructed it to devour Anne. If she’s with you, you all must find a secure hideout as soon as possible!”

“WHAT?!” I yelled with all the strength in my lungs, to the point I startled everyone else inside the carriage. “Ohnonononono!”

“Sis? What’s happening? Did you see something?”

“Not seen Keith, heard! Nicol contacted me using a message spell! That fire creature has left the Academy, and it’s coming for Anne!” I hold unto my _elder sister_ ’s arm who, unsurprisingly, got cold and terrified upon hearing my words. “We need to find a place to hide and we need to find it now!” But a familiar and dreaded sound could be heard before I could say anything else; I took my head outside one of the windows and there it was: that abomination, bigger than before, was giving chase to our vehicle, and was getting closer and closer.

“It’s here!” Anne covered her head and shrieked, overcome by fear. Keith took the initiative and, leaning out the window, started casting his powerful earth magic against the creature. Multiple stone stakes appeared from the ground, sticking between that horror’s skeletal structure, trapping it. Of course, it started destroying them, but this gave us some precious extra space between both it and us.

“Keep driving as fast as you can! That thing will free itself soon!” I was in verge of despair. The idea of losing Anne… I couldn’t accept it! We had to leave that monster’s sight. Unfortunately, the terrain was mostly flat, with no turns or valleys to use in our favor.

… _cave_ …

“Uh?” Did I just heard something?

… _the cave_ … _enter it_ …

And after those words, a fast series of images flashed in my mind, images describing the entrance of a cave and how to reach it. Was I hallucinating? Was dread cracking my sanity? I tried to set those delusions apart while looking outside the window, trying to find a good hiding place… and then it stroke me: I had seen this very same terrain, I had seen a few seconds ago! “Turn in that direction, quickly!”

“Sis? What are you saying? That’s in the opposite direction to the capital! We’ll be in the middle of nowhere, with no place to run or hide!”

“Trust me Keith, there’s something there that we can use!” For some reason, I was convinced that those visions were right.

The longer we went in that direction, the more I recognized everything from those images. I was sure at that point: those weren’t hallucinations, but some kind of prophetic visions. And soon I’d be proven right, when we finally could see far in the distance a hill with a visible cave entrance on its side. “There! We can hide inside it!”

But all joy was shattered when we could hear the monster closing by; Keith’s _Claws from Below_ couldn’t slow it much more.

“Sis… I’ll get off here. I’m pretty sure I can slow it down much better with my muddolls!”

“What?! No way Keith, we cannot leave you here, fighting that monster alone!”

“Lady Katarina, he won’t be alone: I’ll stay with him. My magic can help him maintaining he’s vigor and vitality, also, I can ask for help with it.”

“But… Sophia…”

“Don’t worry about us, sis. You and Anne go and hide in that cave. We’ll keep it occupied enough time to let reinforcements arrive and together we’ll take it down, once and for all.”

The coachman ordered his horses to stop to allow Keith and Sophia getting their feet on the ground. “Please, promise me you’ll get back safe and sound…” They nodded smiling and, as soon as the carriage resumed its movement, they turned to face the flaming horror.

About two minutes later, Anne and I left the carriage and entered the cave, while the coachman returned to the capital to alert of our situation. Inside that cavern, a somewhat reassuring silence welcomed us. The entrance wasn’t too big, in fact, Anne and I had to walk one behind the other; that meant the monster could not fit in there, we’d be somewhat safe. After walking for a couple of minutes, we reached an opening that led to a bigger space: a closed chamber, with natural illumination thanks to multiple luminescent crystals on the top that irradiated a diaphanous white light. There were no other entrances or exits on sight. If we weren’t in such a dangerous situation, visiting this place would have been a beautiful trip.

“My Lady, are we… are we supposed to just wait here for help to arrive?”

Anne’s voice sounded subdued, tired, without the spark of life she usually exhibited. But I couldn’t blame her: too much had happened in too little time. “I suppose Anne. There’s nothing else we can do… I fear for Keith and Sophia. I hope… I hope nothing bad happens to them.”

“Well… Keith’s magic is unparalleled, if there’s someone who can face that monster with any hope of victory is him. And with Lady Ascart backing him, they’ll be a fearsome duo, even for a monstrosity like that; at least, I hope that…”

Even when they insisted in us two going forward, I still felt guilty: I left them behind facing a monster. A monster whose nature was still a mystery to me. All these feelings made me dizzy and confused. I really had to sit down and rest. Imitating Anne, I looked for a flat rock that could be used as an improvised stool until I found one, conveniently flat and decently tall. I sat on it to get some rest… and for a second an intense light enveloped me. When I could see again, I realized I was in a different chamber, with the same glowing crystals but no exit on sight. Worst of all: no Anne on sight.

“Anne? Anneeeeee!” I yelled desperately. I feared for her, for her life. I started looking for a way to go back when, without any warning:

“… _hiro_ …”

“Uh?” I thought I had heard a voice. Where did it come from?

“… _Chihiro_ …”

There was it again. And what it said… it couldn’t be. That was impossible! I thought I was having hallucinations due to the panic. But soon, that mysterious voice was heard again, more strong than before:

“ _I’ve been waiting for you, Chihiro Yamane._ ”

There was no doubt. That intense voice was talking to me… and it was using my former name, the name I had in my previous life in Japan! It was at that moment that I realized two things: that was the same voice who made me know about the cave earlier, and most surprisingly, it spoke in Japanese! It had been so long since I heard that language that I didn’t recognized it at first, even though I could still understand it.

“Who are you? How do you know that name? Where is this place, how can I get out of here?” As the only answer, a wall in that cave became bathed in an intense white light, and there, after regaining my sight, I could discern an enormous figure that was in no way natural: a stone slab with the carving of a tiger.

“Chihiro Yamane, be welcome here. I know about you, I know you are reincarnated from another world; my former world.”

“Your… wait, you are also from Earth?! But, who are you, what do you want from me?”

“Maybe you have heard about me: my name is Byakko, the White Tiger of the West.”

“Byakko… oh yeah! I’ve heard about you, yes!”

“So, even in your time, the young ones are still educated in philosophy and myths. I see, it’s good to know…”

“Oh, no, nothing like that: I read about it in a manga.” For a few seconds, an awkward silence shrouded the whole instance.

“… well… that’s irrelevant right now. What matters is that you are here and you are ready for…”

I interrupted him, as anxious as I was. “I shouldn’t be here! I’m sorry, I know you probably have your reasons to having summoned me to this place, but Anne, my friend, she’s alone in that cave and a monster is going after her!”

“… Amorphobos.”

“Uh? What does that mean?”

“That’s the name of that monster’s species.”

“Eeeeeeh? You know what that monster is?! Wait… now that I think of it… you are a god after all!” I hastily kneeled before that immobile figure. “Oh, I beg you! Please, stop that creature, use your powers to destroy it before it hurts my dear Anne!”

“I can’t. My powers were sealed when me and my siblings arrived unto this world.”

I felt like despair was squeezing my heart with cold claws. “You… you can’t? Then, why did you bring me here then? Please, I want to go back, I need to be with Anne!”

“You will Chihiro. Listen to me: Amorphobos are creatures born from people’s fear. They feed on it, assimilate it, turn it into their power. And when they are ready to mature, they must consume the human who birthed them to attain their true humanoid form.”

“That… that explains why that thing is after Anne. So it wasn’t a parasite from my greens, wasn’t it?”

“… 2000 years ago, they tried to take over your world. My siblings and I used our power to stop them, but they were too numerous and powerful to be destroyed. Instead, we had to bring them with us into another world: this world. Our sealed powers kept them bind, but the seal has grown weaker with time. They still cannot go too far, but if they keep spreading dread, we won’t be able to restrain them anymore. That’s why you are here.”

“Me?!” I asked, completely dumbfounded. “Why me? What am I supposed to do?”

“You will become our champion: you will wield the power of us, gods, against the Amorphobos. You are the only one capable of doing it: a pure and benevolent soul from our former world.”

My confusion only grew after hearing those words. “You… you must be mistaken. I’m not such a person, I’m a despicable villainess heading on to a tragic doom.”

“Your words are… peculiar, to say the least. But rest assured, I’m 100% certain on my resolutions: you are the only one worthy of this power. You are worthy of becoming a heroine.”

Before I could respond, a ray of pure white beam was shot before me and, when dissipated, there were two items resting at my feet: a small, rectangular, white slab with the same tiger effigy and a strange looking object, like a metallic block with several pieces and a rectangular space on it. “What is this? What do you want me to do with…” and as soon as I touched them, new knowledge poured into my mind: how to use them, what I could do with their power, their names… “Byakko… are you really serious on entrusting this power to me?”

“As I said, Chihiro Yamane, there’s no other one as worthy as you to receive it. But the final verdict is yours: will you do it? Will you fight?”

“If that means I can protect those I love” I said holding the God Driver and the God Slab with a strong grip, “yes! I accept this gift, oh White Tiger of the West!”

“Then it is settled. Now return to the surface, and remember: never let fear overcome your courage.”

And with those words, my vision became clouded once again by a white light.

★★★★★★★★★

“My Lady! Lady Katarina!” My cries found no answer in that cave. In a moment she had disappeared in a column of light. I was alone, in an unknown cavern, knowing that a flaming abomination was chasing after me with the intention of devouring me. This was the worst day in my whole life… and probably the last one.

I sat down, feeling how hopeless thoughts got grip on my mind. I thought of all my dear people: what will be of Lady Katarina without me? Was Lord Keith OK? What if they both died? How will their fathers cope with it? Will they blame me, knowing their kids had died for a servant like me? Before I could notice it, my dress was soaked in my tears…

And then, with the same intensity as the former one, a column of white light flashed before me and, from it, emerged a familiar shape: my Lady Katarina Claes. Before I could react, astonished as I was, she was embracing me.

“Anne! Oh Anne, you are all right! I was so worried!”

Worried? She was worried? She’s the one who disappeared! That was Lady Katarina, thinking of others first. Hugging her, I couldn’t hold back my tears. “Oh, My Lady! I felt so terrified! You… you just disappeared… what happened, are you hurt?”

“Well, it’s a peculiar story Anne. Let me see… how can I explain it…?”

But our merry reunion was abruptly interrupted by a hideous noise of rock scratching and unnatural shrieks. Fear started to envelop me once again. “It’s that thing! It founded me!” Even with my heart full of panic, I managed to move myself until the entrance tunnel was visible: there it was, that monster was trying to widen it, scratching furiously on the walls and ceiling, also using its flaming breath to soften the stone. I fell on my rear end contemplating that abomination. “It’s entering here! It’s going to reach me!” Despair was the only thing I could feel. It was over… this was my end, here would Anne Shelley leave this world… or that was what I thought at the moment; what I didn’t know, is that hope was next to me; a hope with aqua eyes and a golden heart.

★★★★★★★★★

There I was, standing next to a terrified Anne, gazing on that flaming atrocity. If that thing was here… what had happened to Keith and Sophia? I didn’t want to think the worst, but… and now, it was after Anne. For the first time in my life, I felt anger; pure, genuine, unfiltered anger. I couldn’t stand it anymore… I was going to stop that unholy horror once and for all!

“Anne, don’t worry. This monster won’t hurt you: I won’t allow it.”

“What?! My Lady, have you lost your mind?! There’s no way you can face that creature, is way out of your league! Please… stay aside, let this just end. If my sacrifice can save your life… this will be my last act of loyalty as your maid.”

“Anne… stop talking about sacrificing yourself!” I felt infuriated, not at Anne, but at her words. “What act of loyalty would that be? Do you think I can accept a life without you? No Anne, we are going to leave this cave safe and sound, both of us, and will find Keith and Sophia.” My words took Anne by surprise and tears started flowing from her eyes.

“Oh, Lady Katarina… if… if that were possible… if there was a way…”

A smile was drawn to my face. My eyes met those of Anne and, taking out the God Driver I spoke: “but, there happens to be a way!” I put the mystical buckle on my abdomen; with a screeching sound, a metallic belt emerged from its right side, circled around my waist and fastened to the Driver’s left side.

“My Lady? What is that…?”

Without answering Anne, I took hold of the white metallic slab with a tiger carved on it. “God Slab, set!” With those words, I introduced it on the open right side of the buckler’s frontal part. The slab became perfectly secured in it, occupying the belt’s frontal center. A mechanic, feminine voice came out from it.

“ _BLESSINGS_ ”  
  


“Did… did that belt just talk?”

I didn’t answer Anne at the moment. Instead, I hold my right arm in front of myself, with my hand’s palm facing left; took a deep breath and uttered that word from my former language, the word that meant ‘transformation’: “Henshin!” With a fast gesture, my right hand took hold of the Leveriser, a small, golden sliding switch on the Driver’s top part. I moved it from left to right and…

“ _BYAKKO! ASCENSION!”_

★★★★★★★★★

In a few seconds, several unusual events had transpired in front of my eyes: Lady Katarina putting on some strange talking belt, she speaking un-comprehensible words… but nothing could have prepared me for what I was going to contemplate: a gigantic, ghostly white tiger appeared from that belt, flew to the fire creature and started scratching and biting it until the monster fell flat on its back. But more were to come, since the phantasmal feline stood still and parts of it (its head sides, frontal claws, mouth, rear paws and tail) became solid metallic pieces. The tiger vanished, leaving said pieces behind, which went flying back to were me and Lady Katarina were… and was at that moment I realized she had change!

Where a young lady in a white and blue dress with aqua eyes and long brunette hair used to be, a woman clad in armor stood instead. A body-tight gray and silver armor, with a helm covering her head completely and, for its only faction, two large, kind of bug-like, yellow eyes. Before I could say anything, those metallic parts ended their trip on that figure’s armor, reducing their side and hitching onto it, forming gauntlets, greaves, pauldrons, a short metal skirt, a chest piece and a facemask. When all of this happened, those eyes lightened up, illuminating the cave with their yellow light. The armored figured turned her head to me and started speaking with a distorted yet somewhat familiar voice:

“Woaaaaaah! It worked, it worked! Hey Anne, tell me, how do I look?” Her happy bouncing and flailing didn’t match her majestic appearance at all.

“Lady… Lady Katarina? Is that you?”

Before I could receive an answer, the sound of crackling flames and heavy stomps told us that the monster was on foot once again.

“Well, perfect, time to test this armor. Let’s see how you face a Kamen Rider!”

Once again, words I failed to understand… but I didn’t think much of it, because a prodigious spectacle took place in front of me: My Lady took a stance with her knees flexed and her arms leaning backwards, then, in a burst of strength, jumped; but her jump propelled with such a strength that the rock under her feet cracked and she found herself flying straight into the burning beast, which apparently was startled upon realizing an unknown armored figured was rushing in its direction.

“WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Rider Punch!”

Lady Katarina spoke, once again, words that I had never heard before and, to my utter disbelief, delivered a downwards punch to the monster, so powerful it was that the creature’s body hit the ground with such strength that one of its five jaws broke in two. Turning in my direction, My Lady started waving her arms and yelling.

“Aaaanne! Did you see that?! Did you see that?! I did this! I really have become a super heroine!”

I… I couldn’t speak. My mind was completely dumbfounded, refusing to believe my eyes. Was that really Lady Katarina Claes? The innocent and benevolent Lady Katarina Claes?

But, when I finally managed to spoke, it wasn’t to congratulate her of thank her, but to warn her: “My Lady! Behind you!” The horror was once again standing on its five legs, angry at the individual who managed to hurt it. Lady Katarina jumped startled but, in an instant, executed a hook kick on the monster, with another set of obscure utterances:

“Rider Kick!”

This time, the burning atrocity was launched out of my sight, at least from the limited field of view I had from inside the cavern. I finally gathered the courage needed to move outside. When I met with my three times savior, she held my hands and, despite their metallic cover, I held them back.

“Oh Anne! It’s OK, don’t be afraid anymore! I won’t let it hurt you.”

“But, My Lady… I still don’t understand, what happened to you? What’s with this super powered armor you are wearing? What…?”

“I’ll explain it later. For the moment, I’d say that this is a gift, from a god.”

“A… a god?!” Without answering me, she turned her head towards the flaming abomination. Once again, the creature refused to give up. Lady Katarina let my hands go, clinched hers into fists and adopted a combat stance.

“Well, I think it’s time to end this.”

★★★★★★★★★

If someone had said to me that in my next life I’d be reincarnated in an otome game world, I’d have laughed at the idea. But that I’d also become a Kamen Rider, one of those super heroes from a popular live action franchise in Japan… I’d have thought that person was completely insane. And yet… it happened. I was there, clad in a Rider armor, facing a horrible monster, protecting Anne’s life…

“You tried to take someone precious to me. You have hurt people I hold dear in my heart. I cannot forgive you, I won’t forgive you!” Never in my life or my previous life I had felt so much anger as I felt at that moment. I jumped towards that creature and let my newly acquired knowledge guide my fists. Somehow, the God Driver had infused my brain with information about martial arts; still, without proper training, my fighting style was probably clumsy and crude… but having a ripped body from years of tilling and swordsmanship studies, not to mention, a Kamen Rider armor, made up for my lack of proper discipline on them.

Mi fists met the monster’s body again and again, its fire useless against my armor, whose metallic coating isolated me from flames and heat… in fact, I felt cool and comfortable inside it. That bony structure was no match for my new superhuman strength, cracking under each contact with my fists or kicks. Even more, my agility was akin to that of a feline, allowing me to avoid the burning being’s attacks, easily dodging its claws and bites, striking its flanks, even its back, jumping through its malformed build. Until it let it fall flat over me when I was attacking it from a side… yet its claim of victory was short-lived, because I was able to push its body off me with such strength that the monster briefly lost contact with the ground, producing a loud noise when bashing against it and roll a few meters, leaving a path of charred grass.

“I… I can do this! I’m stronger than this thing!”

But rushing against it face to ‘face’ turned out to be a big oversight, because I had not taken in account its fiery breath, which the atrocity had been preparing. A raging torrent of flames engulfed me, and its intensity could actually be felt under my armor. I tried placing my arms in front of me, thinking of finding a way to dodge the attack, but its speed and intensity didn’t allow me to properly move…

And suddenly, the heat disappeared. When my vision was directed in front of me once again, I realized that, between me and the flames, a large screen of some kind of liquid metal had manifested, similar to quicksilver, but exhibiting a pure metallic white tone. My otaku mind started working in a fraction of second and baptized that metal as ‘byakkury’.

“Ha! You didn’t expect this, eh?” _Truth be told, neither did I_. The monster was clearly frustrated, trying to intensify its breath power, to the point its body’s flames became weaker, turning into nothing more than large embers, but with no avail. “OK, this is going no where, we have to change the tides of this combat. Take this! Byakkury Shibuki!” (Yes, I know, ‘byakkury splash’ was not the smartest name ever). The liquid metal changed from a screen to a projectile that splashed into the freak’s throat, sticking into it, obstructing its flaming breath attack. “Rider Kick!” came out from my mouth when I delivered a rising kick on its non-head, making the whole unnatural body to fall flat on the ground. In a few seconds, it stopped squirming and stood still, laying nearly motionless on its back.

I walked towards it, decided to delivering the finishing blow. Probably a kick? I mean, the most iconic attack of a Kamen Rider is a kick… and those thoughts distracted me enough to not realize how the monster wasn’t as immobile as I thought it to be and lunged its front claws towards me at high speed. “Kyaaaaa!” I yell while, instinctively, waved my arms out, in a likely futile attempt to deflect the attack. An attack that never reached me. For, in a couple of seconds, two strong bangs were heard a few meters from where I was standing, followed by the high pitched shriek of pain emanating from my opponent. A quick glance made clear what had happened: I, somehow, had severed its front legs, and the answer was on my gauntlets, for each of them displayed four long double-edged blades, nearly as long as a forearm.

“Claws! Of course, my motif is a tiger! Very well, time for round 2!” I charged against my enemy again, but this time, there was no contest: mutilated, gagged and facing my newly discovered weapons it was no match for me: I slashed its unnatural form over and over, denting and breaking it, to the point I even started feeling bad for it. Luckily, my Driver’s voice would announce that it was the moment of climax:

_“BATTLE AURA, OVERWHELMING!”_

A quick glance to the God Driver and I realized the God Slab was shining with great intensity. My mind dug up what to do in this situation, and with my hand I took that light, held it on my palm and clasped both of mi hands together. My gauntlets became covered with that very same white light.

_“EXCELLAR BUSTER!”_

This was it, the finishing strike. I needed a good name for it, something that sounded classy and scary at the same time, something that would be fitting as a final attack, something like… “Brilliant Mayhem!” And I started slashing in front of the defeated creature, each slash creating four giant blades that existed for a fraction of second, but more than enough to cut its bony structure like butter; I slashed numerous times until I intertwined my claws together, separating them in a cross fashion which resulted in a final X-shaped blade. In a moment, all that was left of that abomination were a bunch of misshaped fragments.

“Great, I did it! I can’t believe it, I defeated a monster as a Kamen Rider, just like in the shows! Just like in the shows…” and there I remembered what happened when a Rider defeated a _kaijin_ (AKA humanoid monster) opponent: they exploded!

The pile of broken reminders started to give an intense red light and, in less than a second, exploded, but not in the form of a pyrotechnic explosion, but as a powerful burst of heat wind. I was expelled a few meters apart, rolling on the ground until I finally stopped. I was slightly dizzy, but nothing serious. And even my temporal sickness would disappear when I reflected on what I had done.

“I… I won! I WON! I’ve destroyed that monster!” Turning myself to face the cave, my gaze met that of my dear friend, who stood near the cavern’s entrance, with her eyes completely open as full moons. “Anne! Did you see that! I won!” I run towards her and hold onto her hands, after having retracted my claws onto my gauntlets. My helmet became an array of glittering particles before disappearing, leaving my long hair free (which, somehow, could hid inside it). “Anne, it’s over: that monster will never threaten you ever again. … Anne?” Anne still was frozen, not making any sound besides her intense breathing; I had to shake her a bit for her to finally react.

“My-My Lady… what just happened, what is that armor, how could you defeat that monster, when did you learn to fight that way, what was that about a god you mentioned before?”

“Hey, calm down Anne, one question as a time. I understand this has to be astonishing. First of all, this armor is a mystical item, forged by a group of gods from another world; and yes, that itself is confusing and would take too long to explain, I promise I’ll explain everything when we go back together to the Claes Estate, okay?” Anne didn’t immediately answer but she finally regained her composure and tranquil semblance with her warm smile.

“Very well. I’ll trust your word, Lady Katarina. It’s the least I can do, specially after you saved my life. Still… this armor’s power is incredible. Not even Master Keith’s magic could harm that monster… wait, Master Keith!”

Anne’s words snapped something in my memories: I had forgotten about Keith and Sophia! “Oh nononono! You are right, I was so ecstatic for my victory that I didn’t remember them! I need to verify their safety. Anne, wait for me here, I’ll return soon.”

“Here? Why here?”

“Because I’m going to run too fast for you, and if I carried you, such high speeds could probably hurt you. It won’t take long, I promise.” And with those words, my head was covered again in a newly formed helmet; as soon as this happened, I burst into running in the direction where my brother and Sophia got separated from us.

★★★★★★★★★

“Lord Keith, please, you are not in condition of running, let alone, fighting.” My pleads where lost into his stubbornness. It had been several minutes since the horror in fire we were trying to slow down finally escaped from us, not before injuring Lord Keith Claes. Fortunately, he had only received superficial burns, nothing that a spell of _Invigorating Breeze_ couldn’t heal, but the fight had consumed most of his mana reserves, being one step before unconsciousness. Yet, he refused to give up and was overexerting his own body into following the creature where it had gone.

“Sis… I have to help her… she and Anne… I’m not giving up on them! Even if my body fails…”

“I’m worried for them too, but you need to rest. Let me go in your place and… Lord Keith, do you see that?” I pointed in the direction where a shiny blur could be noticed against the grassy fields.

“Uh… what is that? It… it’s coming here and at high speed!”

He was right: whatever that thing was, it moved notably fast. Was it hostile? Should we hide? Sadly, we were in the middle of a flat field, with no hiding spot available. We tried to move far from its trajectory, yet it wouldn’t take long for it to reach us… and it run directly into us! Before we could react, that mysterious figure stopped right before us. There it was, some humanoid form in a strange armor, in silvery colors with white-tinted tiger motifs and two yellow big eyes, similar to those of an insect. We were shocked and, at the same time, kind of anxious, because we didn’t know what that individual wanted from us. And, before we could say anything, a voice could be heard.

“Are… are you okay? Were you hurt by that monster?”

For a moment, I’d have swore that her voice sounded different… it was a deep female voice. 

“You must be Keith Claes and Sophia Ascart, right? That girl, Katarina Claes, asked me to come to your help.”

“Katarina? Have you met my sister?! Where is she?! You have to guide me with her, that flaming creature was chasing her and our maid!”

“Oh, don’t worry about that monster, I’ve already disposed of it, it no longer exists.”

Did we really heard that right? That creature, who seemed unstoppable… could it be possible?

“Is… is that truth? Then… are they safe? Please, tell me Sis and Anne are safe!”

“Oh, of course they are safe, I wouldn’t let any harm to fall upon them, I’m a heroine after all.”

“A… a heroine?” I couldn’t believe it. Was this like one of my novels? Yet, that armor didn’t evoke any type of romanticism. “What’s your name?”

“Oh, my name… my name is… uh?” The armored woman tilted her face to the horizon, in the direction we had come from. Suddenly, two sets of claws emerged from her gauntlets, gave us a quick stare and shouted:”

“Move as far as you can from here, quickly!”

Normally, I had doubted a stranger but she radiated an aura of authority that made us obey. But it just took a few steps to hear an intense sound of metal clashing at our backs. Looking again, I say the armored woman stopping the attack of a female humanoid with insect characteristics.

“YOU! YOU KILLED MY PRECIOUS CHILD! I CAN SMELL HER BLOOD IN YOUR HANDS!”

★★★★★★★★★

_EARLIER_

We were losing. That nightmarish woman was an opponent none of us could overcome. Several guards and mages had been injured in battle, some of which had to be evacuated, victims oh her venom. But I wasn’t ready to give up. Gathering my refilled mana reserves, I attacked her with another fire spell: _Crossed Scorch_ ; in an instant, from my hands a series of spinning crosses of fire flew in her direction… yet she managed to destroy most of them using her dagger and extra limbs. Only a couple of them made impact, one of them igniting her antenna mane.

“Ouch ouch, this actually hurts! It’s not the same magic that humans from the other world used to have, but it’s still annoying. Anyway, boy, you shouldn’t have done it: I was going to keep you as a pet, but now I’ll have to kill you.”

_‘The other world’_? Although her words intrigued me, I snapped back to reality: there was no time to sidetrack my thoughts, a death battle had been announced to me! I took my sword, got hold of the magic in my hands, and readied a defensive stance, for she was aiming to kill. Even without looking at my side, I knew Alan was with me. Together we were prepared to face her, when…

She stopped… she stood motionless in midair except for the buffeting of her wings, looking at a wall… no, not a wall, her gaze looked lifeless, like she was daydreaming. I was ready to take this advantage, yet it didn’t take long for her to react, but not to us, but to something else.

“My child! Someone is killing you!”

And with those words, she left through the opening in the ceiling. Quickly, I moved under it to learn the direction she was escaping to.

“Let’s grab horses, chase her, we cannot lose her!” With those words, everyone run fast to the Academy entrance, were several horses from the newly arrived guards were waiting.

“Are there three free horses for us?” A soldier answered my question.

“Yes, we have them trained to accept other riders after being instructed. Here, get on them.”

When we got hold of the reins, I instructed my steed to start galloping. “Follow me!”

“So Jeord, are you sure it went in this direction?”

“I have no doubt about it, Nicol. What intrigues me are her words… her child is, of course, that fire monster. But…”

“If someone is capable of killing that, are we dealing with a friend or a foe? Is that what you are thinking, brother.”

As my only answer to Alan, I simply nodded.

★★★★★★★★★

“Who are you?!” I asked to the inhuman individual who was clashing blades with me.

“I was the mother of Pyro Maggot, the precious child you killed!”

“The… that monster?! Wait, you are an Amorphobos too!” It was so surreal, we were talking at the same time we didn’t stop attacking each other.

“So, you have heard about my kind?! I shouldn’t be surprised, I recognize that white tiger motif: you are a lackey of Byakko! So that old pussycat has found an idiot to do his dirty job, eh? Well, not for so long, I’m going to finish you!” Her movements were so fast and inhuman, yet I could keep up with them, like if time itself had slowed down in my surroundings.

“Your creature hurt innocent people, tried to kill a good woman! How can you call such a monster a ‘precious child’? It deserved its fate!”

“DON’T YOU EVER DARE TO SPEAK THAT WAY OF MY CHILD! Humans are cattle, nothing more, that’s what they deserve, weak, pathetic creatures who can’t control their fear. If they allow dread to devour them, then they deserve to be eaten!”

At this point, she had started to go all out, attacking me not only with her dagger, but with a scorpion tail, a giant centipede, even trying to kick me with a leg with jaws! Some hits even reached me, which my armor was able to withstand, but every time I felt the impact more and more… I was fighting defensively and that was throwing me into a disadvantage. After the centipede distracted me enough for another hit of her dagger to reach my chest, sprouting sparks from it, I decided to change to a more aggressive tactic, charging into her with both claws.

“You are disgusting! Now that I think of it… you have humanoid form! You ate a human, didn’t you?!”

“Now you bring that up? It’s been such a long time that I can’t even remember her face. Why do you care? She’d be dead by this point. Humans have such short lives that killing them should be considered euthanasia.”

“You… MONSTER!” I did an upward slash with my claws, with such speed it created a vacuum arc in front of it, rupturing the ground and making the bug woman to retreat… to the skies. _Damn, she can fly!_

“I’m getting tired of this game, you metal puppet. Take a taste of my venom.”

And with those words, several stings flew from her wrists at the same time that her scorpion sting was swung violently, spewing several drops of a purple liquid. I had to make use of my newly acquired feline swiftness, executing cartwheels with a grace I had never possessed, using my enhanced senses to notice every single one of them, until I committed a mistake and failed to notice a pair of stings that hit me in the left shoulder.

I fell face down on the ground, not hurt physically, but that would soon change when several more of those stings and venom droplets hit me on my back without mercy; I rolled out of them but it didn’t take long for me to feel slightly dizzy and with a throbbing pain in my back: I realized my armor had been pierced and some of her venom managed to reach my blood.

“Well, finally. That armor of you was a real problem, I was running out of ammo; but finally I’ve got you where I wanted. ”

She approached me with a twisted grin on her face, wielding her dagger in her hands, her centipede limb rearing up, ready to strike, her spider legs shivering menacingly.

“When you reach the Afterlife, remember the name of the one who sent you there, for I am called Entomorrigan.”

I tried to stop her attack, but her first strike hit me trough the chest, multiple sparks flying off my armor and a sudden pain invading me. And it didn’t stop there: the centipede attacked and I tried to block it with my left arm, only for it to furiously biting it. “Get off me!” I shouted while I tried to punch it (I was too weak to pull out my claws), but the spider legs stroke me on my right shoulder, arm, hand and side. “YEAAAAAARGH!” I could feel the pain: my armor wouldn’t hold up much more, but that venom had weakened me enough. She sliced me again, and again…

Until I could feel my strength back, my mind dizziness gone, my body no longer numb… fighting against the pain, I ordered my claws to be released, slashing Entomorrigan on her face and cutting off two of her spider limbs. She got off me when receiving those unexpected wounds.

“You swine! How could you? My venom should have kept you completely paralyzed!”

Despite not having an answer for that question, this would come in the form of a ‘ _PLOP!_ ’ that was heard just behind me. Without turning around, I made a long step back so the origin of that sound stood in front of me: a small puddle of white liquid metal with a purple fluid in its middle. I then understood: the byakkury flew through my blood, enveloped all the venom and expelled it outside of my body! This was the amazing power I had been gifted with. Even better, I could feel my armor self-repairing itself: truly, it was alive. “Entomorrigan did you say? Good. I’d rather know the name of the one I’m about to punish!”

I made use of my speed to run towards her brandishing my claws. She, incapable of hiding her panic, attacked me with her centipede, trying to kept distance between both of us. Its movement was notably fast and nimble, successfully blocking my advancement. I tried using the Byakkury Shibuki, but I needed to form the screen first, which wasn’t that useful against physical attacks, and my adversary still had some stings in her; those puncturing bolts hit me slightly behind the liquid metal curtain, but enough for my projectile to be slow and unfocused, which Entomorrigan dodged without many troubles.

_Damn, I need some way to attack her at this distance. I’m not going to win at this pace…_ with these thoughts in my mind, I couldn’t grasp how my claws were shining more and more, until their brightness was so intense it could be noticed without a direct glance. At that moment, my belt poured more information in my mind: my claws could absorb light and use it as a weapon. When her monstrous limb lunged against me again, I stopped it with my left claw at the same time I swung the right one: a shining wave of white light was thrown at high speed from it.

“Hakukouzan!” White Light Cut… definitely I’m not very good at naming my attacks, “Surge!” Entomorrigan was caught by surprise for my attack and had to strike it with her dagger to protect herself; this gave me the opening I was looking for, since my left claw still had a charge of light on it. “Hakukouzan Crash!” With a powerful light-enhanced slash, the centipede limb was cut clean; my enemy yelled an intense scream of pain while her severed part flopped around until I split its head in two.

When I directed my eyes back to Entomorrigan, I discovered we weren’t alone: several mounted individuals stood immobile at a distance, looking in my direction with astonishment drawn on their faces. I could recognize familiar faces: Jeord, Alan and Nicol where there; Sophia had moved near her brother while Keith was being attended by a robbed person. At that moment, a familiar, almost mechanic voice, reminded me that I still have an opponent to defeat:

“ _BATTLE_ _AURA, OVERWHELMING!_ ”

Once again, I snatched the light from the God Slab but, this time, clasped it onto my leg.

“ _EXCELLAR BUSTER!_ ”

My greaves started shining while power began to accumulate in them. Then, byakkury formed around them, allowing me to execute a new technique: I jumped onto the ground on a sideways position with my legs partially folded; in this posture, I slid at great speed to where Entomorrigan was standing still trying to cover her wounds, too hurt and confused to react in time. When I was near her, I impelled myself upwards at the same time that I violently stretched my legs: both of my feet hit the Amorphobos woman on her chest, causing a dazzling burst of light. “Silverise Impacter!” Entomorrigan was launched through the air, her chitinous armor shattered into pieces, crashing on the ground several meters away. The mounted group had to calm their horses, for they were alarmed.

And at that point, Entomorrigan managed to badly rise up, using her dagger as an improvised resting cane. Dark green liquid, probably her blood, was pouring from her mouth.

_Uhm, she’s still alive… clearly, she’s not a mook of the week if she survived a finisher Rider Kick._ Holding onto her wounds, the monstrous woman gave me a gaze full of hate. Clenching her teeth, she muttered:

“Y… you… how can you possess such power? Who in hells are you?!”

Who was I? At that moment, I lacked a name, a name for this identity. And then, I remembered those rumors about me. The way some of my classmates called me, a nickname I always considered wrong or exaggerated. Yet, this time... uh, how was that in English?

“... Saint... Kamen Rider Saint!” Pointing to her, I felt my heart beating faster and faster, overcome with excitement and resolution. “Now, may the judgement of the gods fall upon your sins!”

“ _Kyaaaaaaaa! I even came up with a catchphrase! This is so cool!_ ”

★★★★★★★★★

_NEXT TIME IN KAMEN RIDER SAINT_

“Reincarnated, you say?!”

“I wasn’t ready for this destiny…”

“I don’t trust this Kamen Rider person…”

“It has the carving of a monkey! So cute!”

“No please… Not again!”

“That metallic wolf is talking!”

_CARVE YOUR OWN PATH_

_BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS OF FEAR!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well, this is a side-project I had to try. 
> 
> As always, if you find some mistake or do you have any suggestions, feel free to comment bellow.
> 
> And after this chapter and its appendix, I have a one-shot planned but, after that, I'll go back to Clashing Lives of a Villainess and finish it. I swear it! :)


	2. Chapter 1 Appendix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Due to this fanfic's nature being much more action oriented, I've decided to add an extra appendix after each episode. Here you could read all the new elements of it regarding to magic, armors, items, techniques and other things.

╠═══╣ **SPELLS** ╠═══╣

  * **Burning Aegis**



**School** : Fire  
 **Mana Cost** : 30  
 **Reach** : personal  
 **Objective** : N/A  
 **Duration** : 1 hour  
 **Resistible** : Yes (agility, see text)

 **Effect** : the spellcaster creates a floating disk of fire 30 centimeters in front of them. This disk can be moved mentally to any section around the caster, vertical and horizontally, but always remains at the same distance. From the caster side, the disk is transparent and cold. From the other side is composed of intense flames. The disk burns with an intensity of 500º degrees. Although most physical attacks can pass through it, doing so damages the attacker and can make them being caught in flames unless they succeed avoiding it thanks to their agility. The spell can block both fire and water based attacks. Fire will restore its intensity, while it gets damaged by water. It is possible to completely restore its lost intensity by expending 30 mana; doing so will increase its duration by another hour.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 1 mana spent increases its temperature by 1º degree.

  * **Calm Flames**



**School** : Fire  
 **Mana Cost** : 7  
 **Reach** : 25 meters  
 **Objective** : any burning fire  
 **Duration** : N/A  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : this spell reduces the intensity of a burning fire by downing its temperature by 30º degrees. It cannot affect fires bigger than 5 cubic meters; in case the fire is larger, it will only affect part of it.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 7 mana spent decreases the targeted fire temperature by 30º degrees.

  * **Claws from Below**



**School** : Earth  
 **Mana Cost** : 35  
 **Reach** : 25 meters  
 **Objective** : any amount of ground and soil between 1 and 10 cubic meters  
 **Duration** : N/A  
 **Resistible** : Yes (agility)

 **Effect** : the affected ground erupts in the form of spikes, impaling all creatures and items in its area of effect. These spikes are not of magical nature and can be destroyed by mundane methods. The area of effect is a number of square meters equal to the amount of cubic meters of ground and soil affected by the spell, and the spikes length is equal to half that number in meters.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 10 mana spent increase the amount of soil usable by 1 cubic meter and the spell’s reach by 10 meters.

  * **Create Muddoll**



**School** : Earth  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 10  
 **Reach** : 5 meters  
 **Objective** : any sufficient amount of ground and soil  
 **Duration** : 30 minutes  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : the caster animates 1 kilogram of solid ground matter to create an autonomous humanoid mud doll. The doll can perform by its own any task the caster mentally commands it to do. It can also react automatically against anything that it perceives as an attack, defending itself, unless its creator forbids it from doing it by imposing their own force of will. Only one mud doll can be active at a time.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 5 mana spent increase this spell’s duration by 30 minutes. Each extra 10 mana spent increase the amount of soil usable by 1 kilogram.

  * **Ground Shaping**



**School** : Earth  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 35  
 **Reach** : 10 meters   
**Objective** : a body of 10 cubic meters of ground and soil.  
 **Duration** : N/A  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : a wave of solid matter erupts from the ground, breaking any barrier with less hardness than a 5 centimeters wide sheet of steel per 10 cubic meters of animated matter. The caster of this spell decides on the resulting shape when casting it, and the animated ground will end up adopting that shape in the shortest possible time.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 15 mana spent increase this spell’s reach by 10 meters and the amount of ground and soil to animate by 10 cubic centimeters.

  * **Liquid Bomber**



**School** : Water  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 38  
 **Reach** : 22 meters   
**Objective** : N/A (aimed)  
 **Duration** : N/A  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : this spell creates an orb of highly concentrated water that the spellcaster can toss with high accuracy against any objective. Despite being not bigger than an orange, it contains 11 liters of water. When impacting against a solid object, a liquid surface or powerful stream, it’ll explode, releasing all its waters in every direction with a notable expansive wave. If the orb travels further than its maximum reach, it will simply disappear.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 12 mana spent increases this spell’s reach by 7 meters and the amount of water in it by 2 liters.

  * **Localized Burst**



**School** : Fire  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 16  
 **Reach** : 25 meters  
 **Objective** : an inanimate object or a section of one  
 **Duration** : N/A  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : a small sphere of intense here is created inside the designated object which instantly explodes. This spell cannot affect anything bigger than 1 cubic decimeter.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 10 mana spent increases this spell’s reach by 5 meters.

  * **Raising Earth Rage**



**School** : Fire  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 45  
 **Reach** : 36 meters  
 **Objective** : a section of natural ground  
 **Duration** : N/A  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : the spellcaster places their hand on the same terrain they want to affect. Channeling their fire magic into it, the magical energies are redirected to the desired point, where they accumulate and finally explode into a violent fiery geyser of 0.5 meters radius. Any debris in the fire’s path is dragged along with it.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 15 mana spent increases this spell’s reach by 6 meters and the geyser’s radius by 0.25 meters.

  * **Surface Bounce**



**School** : Water  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 9  
 **Reach** : personal  
 **Objective** : N/A  
 **Duration** : 1 minute  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : when casting this spell, it stays dormant inside the caster, triggering if their body is approaching a any type of surface in a falling trajectory and its duration has not expired. When triggering, it creates a square body of water of 2 meters side and 1 meter height. Its surface is extremely compact, not allowing bodies to submerge in it, feeling like jelly to the touch. Any body falling onto it loses any inertia they may have, softening the impact and reducing it to the level of someone falling down on a mattress from a standing position, no matter the heights they were falling from. The water body created by this spell will disappear after 1 minute.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 5 mana spent increases this spell’s duration in 1 minute and the water mattress’ side by 1 meter.

  * **Surging Cold**



**School** : Water  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 28  
 **Reach** : 12 meters  
 **Objective** : N/A (aimed)  
 **Duration** : 5 seconds, see text  
 **Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : from the spellcaster’s hands a powerful stream of water just over the freezing temperature is expelled at a speed of 20 meters/second. This spell can be aimed to the point the user desires. Each 5 seconds the spell can be maintained, expending a 50% of the mana used to cast it (augmentation cost included).

 **Augmentation** : each extra 8 mana spent increases this spell’s reach by 3 meters and the stream’s speed by 2.5 meters/second.

  * **Whispering Lullaby**



**School** : Wind  
 **Mana** **Cost** : 8  
 **Reach** : touch  
 **Objective** : touched living creature  
 **Duration** : 1 hour   
**Resistible** : Yes (force of will)

 **Effect** : relaxing sounds of howling breezes blow through the touched creatures ears, inducing a sleeping trance. The creature cannot be awakened by normal means, but an _Awakening_ spell will break the effect.

 **Augmentation** : each extra 2 mana spent increase this spell’s duration by 1 hour.

  * **Words Gone with the Wind**



**School** : Wind  
 **Mana** **Cost** : X (see text)  
 **Reach** : Up to 1000 kilometers  
 **Objective** : any conscious creature  
 **Duration** : N/A   
**Resistible** : No

 **Effect** : the spellcaster sends a spoken message with the winds that reach the objective creature’s ears. The spell travels at a speed of 340 meters/second. The message may contain any number of words, but its mana cost will be equal to the number of words used in it. The spellcaster and the objective must know each other and the message must be in a language that both can understand.

 **Augmentation** : this spell’s maximum reach will increase by another 1000 kilometers by spending an amount of mana equal to 50% of the amount initially used to cast it.

╠═══╣ **METAMAGIC SKILLS** ╠═══╣

  * **Replicate spell**



With this metamagic skill is possible to cast multiple copies of the same spell at the same time. Using this skill increases the total cost of mana by an amount equal to the base spell’s cost X number of copies + 1. As en example, casting two instances of the same spell would require the triple of mana normally used.

╠═══╣ **RIDER ARMORY** ╠═══╣

** NULL ASPECT **

** Rider Statistics **

  * **Height** : 181 cm.
  * **Weight** : 76 kg.



** Rider Senses **

  * **Eyesight** : 5 km.
  * **Hearing** : 3 km.



** Ability Parameters **

  * **Punching Power** : 4 t.
  * **Kicking Power** : 6 t.
  * **Lifting Strength** : 11 t.
  * **Resistance** : 8 t.
  * **Maximum Jump Height** : 28 m.
  * **Maximum Running Speed** : 100 m. per 5.5 sec.



This is the standard form of Kamen Rider Saint, when using only the God Driver without a God Slab. It’s the weakest form and Katarina rarely uses it unless she doesn’t have access to a God Slab. Its simple, slender and silver design is based on the silverfish insect.

The eyes allow for telescopic vision with an outstanding pinpoint accuracy, and can protect the user from the adverse effects of intense light. The small antennas on the helmet are en extra sensory element, but Katarina still hasn’t perfected control over their potential.

The body armor is covered in a metaphysical aura called Flowing Force. It enhances the armor’s hardness and resistances, increases the user’s strength to superhuman levels and exponentially reduces the damage their body could suffer, including damage from impacts, electricity, extreme temperatures or radiation. It even reduces the user’s fatigue, alleviates heating and prevents sweating accumulation.

The helmet also posses a very effective air filter, to prevent ordinary poisons and similar gases from passing, and has the ability of changing the user’s voice at their choice, into another different voice of a normal individual. This function doesn’t allow imitating animal sounds or adding impossible tones, echoes or reverb to the voice.

This form lacks any personal weapon, instead relying on its ability to transfer kinetic energy from its Flowing Force to objects, enhancing their hardness and impact force; however, there are three limitations to this ability:

  * Only one object at the same time may be enhanced.
  * Only non-organic materials can be affected.
  * Only small objects can be changed. Anything bigger than an average hand tool will be unaffected.



When using this ability, Katarina usually employs items like hand hammers or daggers as melee options; resorting to arrowheads or stones as throwing weapons.

This power is not available to other Aspects, since the armor’s Flowing Force is instead used to harmonize with the God Parts.

** BYAKKO ASPECT **

** Rider Statistics **

  * **Height** : 183 cm.
  * **Weight** : 85 kg.



** Rider Senses **

  * **Eyesight** : 10 km.
  * **Hearing** : 12 km.



** Ability Parameters **

  * **Punching Power** : 11 t.
  * **Kicking Power** : 17 t.
  * **Lifting Strength** : 26 t.
  * **Resistance** : 23 t.
  * **Maximum Jump Height** : 55 m.
  * **Maximum Running Speed** : 100 m. per 2.3 sec.



When using the Byakko God Slab, Saint can adopt this aspect. White

God Parts attach to the armor, giving the motif of a tiger. In this form, Saint is much powerful, with agility, nimbleness and senses as its stronger traits.

This form grants power over metal. Some of its abilities include creating blades and spikes of metal, manipulating metals with a touch and creating a special liquid metal, named _byakkury_ by Katarina. This liquid metal can stands temperatures of up to 6000º C, may be used to purify poisons, has the property to become sticky when compressed and its texture is slippery, allowing Saint to slide on surfaces.

The God Parts are:

  * **Byakko Mask** : a white facemask with a shape similar to that of a wide W; it attaches to the front part of the helmet and its sides, keeping the eyes uncovered. The final structure resembles feline ears on the sides. This mask increases Saint’s sight and hearing senses even more. Katarina can even isolate certain sounds, allowing her to distinguish them despite any amount of noise. She can also extend her sight to the point she can read a sheet of paper with perfect precision up to 10 km. away.
  * **Byakko Chest** : a white cuirass and plackart that covers chest, back and abdomen. It’s decorated with the motif of a tiger mouth. The Saint’s armor Flowing Force is highly enhanced here, giving it the capacity of resisting even an anti-tank missile (if they existed in Sorcier).
  * **Byakko Arms** : a combination of white gauntlets, vambraces and couters, this part is designed with offense in mind: it employs Flowing Force to increase its punching and lifting power over its limits. Not only that, it can make use of a weapon, the Baihu Slicers.
  * **Byakko Waist** : a type of skirt formed by a series of thin white tassets, attached to the belt itself, improving defense without impairing Saint’s movements.
  * **Byakko Legs** : a set of white poleyns, greaves and sabatons. This final part empowers Saint’s kicking power, speed and jump. Also, they protect the users’ knees, calves and feet from hits and feedback impact, allowing to jump up and down dozens of meters without having to worry about breaking a bone or spraining a joint.



╠═══╣ **RIDER ARSENAL** ╠═══╣

**God Driver** : this is the transformation belt used by Katarina to transform in Kamen Rider Saint. Since it was aligned to her, no other individual can use it. Since it was forged by deities from Earth, it cannot be entrusted to a soul that is not native from it.

Its design resembles a somewhat rectangular buckler the size of a notebook, with grey as its primary color and silver lining. On its center, there’s a rectangular gap, open on its front and right side: the God Socket; this is where God Slabs are inserted.

On its upper section, a small sliding switch, golden in color, is present: the Leveriser. Moving it to the right initiates the process of transforming Katarina into the armored champion Kamen Rider Saint. If no God Slab is inserted, Saint will transform into Null Aspect.

When inactive, the driver consists only in a buckler. Katarina just needs to place it on its abdomen with a desire to fight and protect, and the metallic Tensei Belt emerges from the right side, fastening to the left one.

During the fight, the inserted God Slab (or the god Socket, in case there’s none) will accumulate Battle Aura energy; when at it’s maximum, Saint can physically grab it and apply it to a part of the armor in order to initiate a finishing move called an “Excellar Buster”.

**Byakko God Slab** : a small metallic white slab with the effigy of Byakko. When inserted in the God Driver, when initiating a transformation with the Leveriser, a ghostly image of Byakko emerges from the Slab, called a Manifestation Aura; it can interact with the physical world for 3.5 seconds (usually striking Saint’s enemies) before disappearing and creating the Byakko Parts, which attach to Saint’s armor transforming her into Byakko Aspect.

  
**Baihu Slicers** : two sets of four claw-like blades, each generated from the hand’s back. These blades have a continuous edge from both sides and measure 17 centimeters. They are strong enough to cut steel and have the ability to absorb and store ambient light. When enough light has been stored, it can be liberated as either a slashing light wave or an explosive strike. The more ambient light there is, the faster this power can be used.

╠═══╣ **RIDER TECHNIQUES** ╠═══╣

**Byakkury Ita** (Byakkury Sheet): Katarina creates a sheet of Byakkury in front of her, capable of blocking extreme temperature attacks and gases.

**Byakkury Shibuki** (Byakkury Splash): after using the Byakkury Ita, this attack concentrates all that liquid metal into a sticky projectile, ideal to immobilize enemies. The concentration process, however, is a bit slow and can left Katarina helpless for about 2 seconds.

**Hakukouzan Surge** (White Light Cut Surge): after accumulating enough light in the Baihu Slicers, this can be transformer into a cutting projectile formed by solidified light. This attack travels at a speed of 100 meters in 1.3 seconds and has a maximum reach of 2 kilometers.

**Hakukouzan Crash** (White Light Cut Crash): similar to the previous technique, this one instead utilizes the absorbed light to exponentially increase the cutting power of the Baihu Slicers.

**Brilliant Mayhem** : an Excellar Buster initiated by applying Battle Aura on the Byakko arms. During a few seconds, this allows Saint to attack with the Baihu Slicers at higher speeds, delivering more than 50 strikes per second. Not only that, Byakko’s power of metal manifests as enormous blades of metal that are created with each slice, increasing their destructive power. As a final attack, the remaining Battle Aura can be made explode by delivering a crossed slice.

**Silverise Impacter** : an Excellar Buster initiated by applying Battle Aura on the Byakko legs. Saint’s legs are enveloped in byakkury, allowing to slide on any flat like solid surface, increasing her speed until she can deliver the final blow to her enemy, impelling her body at the same time she delivers a powerful double kick to her opponent.


End file.
